Court Opinion

ID: 9760167
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 00:41:50.69197+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:08.738868
License: Public Domain

Judge GRAHAM
specially concurring.
I write separately because, unlike the majority, I see no need to reach a question of statutory interpretation regarding "breaks, fractures, or burns of the second or third degree." § 18-1-901(8)(p), C.R.S.2009. Here, there was a substantial risk of the removal of the victim's spleen and supporting testimony which, in my view, conclusively established that the victim suffered a serious bodily injury.
The evidence adduced at trial established that the victim suffered a grade three laceration or rupture of the spleen and was bleeding internally. She was hospitalized and placed in the intensive care unit for several days while her blood counts were monitored in order to determine whether she required surgery to remove her spleen. The testimony of a physician established that the spleen function was impaired enough to subject her to risk of death from the internal bleeding. He also testified that patients who suffer grade three ruptures are administered fluids intravenously and sometimes blood transfusions. Without intensive care, monitoring, and stabilization, patients with grade three spleen lacerations face a risk of dying.
The statute here unambiguously defines serious bodily injury as including "bodily injury which, either at the time of the actual injury or at a later time, involves ... a substantial risk of protracted loss or impairment of the function of any part or organ of the body." § 18-1-901(8)(p) (emphasis added). Whether the facts here were sufficient to establish that the victim had suffered a serious bodily injury was properly submitted *413to the jury. People v. Thompson, 748 P.2d 793, 794 (Colo.1988).
Reviewing the testimony and evidence in the record as we are required to do, in the light most favorable to the prosecution, Mata-Medina v. People, 71 P.3d 973, 983 (Colo.2008), I conclude that there was ample evidence to support the jury's finding that the victim suffered a serious bodily injury on the basis of her ruptured spleen.