Court Opinion

ID: 9532938
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:26:25.611454+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:52.455576
License: Public Domain

Judge BRIGGS
specially concurring.
I concur in the majority’s analysis and its conclusion that, in the circumstances presented here, the trial court did not err in refusing defendant’s tendered instructions on consent and mistake of fact as affirmative defenses.
I write separately to address the confusion inherent in ever treating either consent or mistake of fact as an affirmative defense when invoked merely to negate an element of the crime charged.
An affirmative defense basically admits the doing of the act charged but seeks to justify, excuse, or mitigate its commission. People v. Huckleberry, 768 P.2d 1235 (Colo.1989); see People v. Cruz, 903 P.2d 1198 (Colo.App.1995)(Davidson, J., dissenting), on remand following petition for certiorari, 923 P.2d 311 (Colo.App.1996); Black’s Law Dictionary 60 (rev 6th ed. 1990). Hence, even though the prosecution establishes each element of the offense charged beyond a reasonable doubt, the defendant cannot be found guilty unless the prosecution also disproves any additional questions of fact raised by the affirmative defense. See § 18-1-407, C.R.S. (1986 RepLVol. 8B); COLJI-Crim. No. 7:01 (1983); People v. Huckleberry, supra.
In contrast, the defenses raised by defendant in this case, consent and mistake of fact, do not require proof .or disproof of factual issues beyond those necessary to establish the offenses charged. They instead would negate the existence of one of the elements of each crime. Conversely, proof of each element of each of the offenses charged negates these defenses. For example, as the majority notes, proving that defendant acted “without authorization” necessarily disproves that defendant acted with consent. Likewise, proving that defendant knowingly obtained a controlled substance “by fraud, deceit, misrepresentation, or subterfuge” necessarily disproves that defendant was acting under a mistake of fact.
Currently, the language in §§ 18-1-505(4) and 18-1-504(3), C.R.S. (1986 Repl.Vol. 8B) refers to consent and mistake of fact generally as “affirmative defenses.” Despite that choice of words, and despite our long-standing standard instructions incorporating those words, see COLJI-Crim. No. 7:02—7:05 (1983), I do not read § 18-1-505(4) or § 18-1-504(3) as requiring the trial court to instruct the jury that the defense of consent under § 18-1-505(1), C.R.S. (1986 Repl.Vol. 8B) or the defense of mistake of fact under § 18-l-504(l)(a), C.R.S. (1986 Repl.Vol. 8B) is a true affirmative defense, such as self-defense. See § 18-1-704, C.R.S. (1986 Repl. Vol. 8B); COLJI-Crim. Nos. 7:01 & 7:16 (1983); see also People v. Fink, 194 Colo. 516, 574 P.2d 81 (1978); People v. Cruz, 923 P.2d 311 (Colo.App.1996). Such an interpretation creates an inherent conflict between the treatment of affirmative defenses in all other aspects of criminal law, see §§ 18-1-407 & 18-1-701 through 18-1-710, C.R.S. *20(1986 Repl.Vol. 8B), and the express treatment of the defenses of consent and mistake of fact in §§ 18-1-505(1) and 18-l-504(l)(a) as requiring proof that negates an element of the crime.
In my view, §§ 18-1-505(4) and 18-1-504(3) must therefore be construed as merely providing that a defendant may “affirmatively” assert the absence of criminal liability by virtue of the victim’s consent under § 18-1-505(1) or as a result of mistake of fact under § 18-l-504(l)(a). In this sense, consent and mistake of fact are defenses — but not affirmative defenses — a treatment consistent with that of the Model Penal Code. See Model Penal Code, § 2.04 & 2.11 (1985); see generally 21 Am.Jur.2d Criminal Law § 141 (1981).
The result is that a trial court should not give an instruction in the form of COLJI-Crim. No. 7:01, which generally defines “affirmative defense,” if the defense asserted is consent under § 18-1-505(1) or mistake of fact under § 18-l-504(l)(a). Nor should a trial court ever give an instruction in the form of COLJI-Crim. No. 7:02 or No. 7:04 as currently written, which treat these particular statutory defenses as affirmative defenses. Cf. People v. Nunez, 841 P.2d 261 (Colo.1992); People v. Fink, supra.