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defendanttrialfelonyadmissibility
defendantappealtrialmotionfelonydue processprosecutoradmissibility

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Apodaca v. People, 712 P.2d 467

Facts

The defendant was charged with second-degree kidnapping, second-degree assault, felony menacing, and a crime of violence, all stemming from an incident on June 1, 1980, in Huerfano County, Colorado. Prior to trial, the defendant requested a ruling on the admissibility of two prior convictions for impeachment if he chose to testify, one being a military conviction for rape. The trial court refused to rule on the military conviction's admissibility until the defendant testified. During the trial, the victim testified that the defendant threatened her with a knife and forced her into his truck, from which she later escaped. The defendant did not testify in his defense, and the jury found him guilty.

The defendant was charged with second degree kidnapping, second degree assault, felony menacing, and a crime of violence, all of which were alleged to have been committed on June 1, 1980 in Huerfano County, Colorado.

Issue

Did the trial court's refusal to rule on the admissibility of the defendant's prior military conviction for impeachment purposes impermissibly burden his constitutional right to testify in his own defense?

whether the trial court's refusal to rule, in advance of the defendant's decision to testify, on his motion to prohibit the prosecution from using the military conviction as impeachment evidence impermissibly burdened the defendant's constitutional right to testify in his own defense at trial;

Rule

A defendant has a constitutional right to testify in their own defense, and a trial court's failure to timely rule on the admissibility of prior conviction evidence for impeachment can constitute an impermissible burden on that right.

Under both the fourteenth amendment to the United States Constitution and article II, section 25 of the Colorado Constitution, a criminally accused has a due process right to testify in his own defense.

Analysis

The court determined that the trial court's refusal to rule on the admissibility of the military conviction prior to the defendant's decision to testify deprived him of the opportunity to make an informed choice about testifying. The court noted that the military conviction's constitutional admissibility was uncertain, and this uncertainty likely influenced the defendant's decision not to testify. The court concluded that this error could not be deemed harmless without a determination of the military conviction's constitutional validity.

The trial court deprived the defendant of that opportunity when it refused to rule on the defendant's motion to prohibit prosecutorial use of prior conviction evidence until such time as the prosecution actually sought to impeach the defendant with such evidence.

Conclusion

The court affirmed in part and reversed in part, remanding the case to the trial court for a determination of whether the defendant's prior military conviction was constitutionally valid and thus admissible for impeachment purposes.

We conclude that the trial court's refusal to timely rule on the defendant's motion impermissibly burdened the defendant's exercise of his constitutional right to testify in his own behalf, and that, given the present state of the record, we cannot treat this error as harmless.

Who won?

The defendant prevailed in part as the Supreme Court found that the trial court's error in not ruling on the admissibility of the military conviction was significant enough to warrant further proceedings.

The court of appeals held that, although it was error for the trial court to refuse to rule on the defendant's motion challenging the admissibility of prior conviction evidence for the purpose of impeachment, the error was harmless because the military conviction for rape qualified as a 'felony conviction' under section 13–90–101, 6 C.R.S. (1978) …

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