Court Opinion

ID: 9608323
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 03:10:26.249688+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:27:41.262164
License: Public Domain

Justice BEATTY.
I disagree with the majority’s analysis of the import of the Legislature’s 2006 amendment to section 17-25-45(F). In my view, this amendment does not call into question the Gordon décision or its expression of legislative intent.
Section 17-25 — 45(F) recognizes Gordon’s requirement that it should be read together with section 17-25-50. To do so does not mean section 17-25-45(F) should be read to the exclusion of section 17-25-50; nor does it mean that section 17-25-50 acquired a new meaning or should be interpreted differently. These sections should be interpreted in a manner that gives effect to both. This may be accomplished by recognizing that section 17-25-45 focuses on how to determine *536a prior conviction and section 17-25-50 focuses on how a conviction should be treated for sentencing purposes under certain circumstances.
The issue in this case is the same as in Gordon; that is the correct interpretation of section 17-25-50. Section 17-25-50 is unquestionably ambiguous in its use of the language “... committed at times so closely connected in point of time that they may be considered as one offense.... ” There is no requirement under section 17-25-50 that multiple offenses occur at the same time or in the same transaction. Yet, the majority injects a contemporaneous transactional requirement though none is found in either section 17-25-45(e) or section 17-25-50 and is unnecessary to effectuate the intent of either section.
The Legislature has had ample opportunity since Gordon to further clarify section 17-25-50 but has not done so. Thus, it would appear that Gordon’s interpretation of legislative intent is correct. The Legislature’s focus is recidivism, and flexibility in interpreting “close in time” is necessary to give effect to legislative intent. In Gordon> the multiple offenses took place over a period of seven days. Here, the offenses took place during a period of fifty-four hours. Assuming an LWOP sentence is inappropriate under the facts of the instant case, Bryant would still be exposed to multiple, maximum consecutive sentences.
I would affirm.
WALLER, J., concurs.