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People v. Martinez

Supreme Court of Colorado. En Banc
Dec 10, 1979
603 P.2d 944 (Colo. 1979)

Opinion

No. 79SA66

Decided December 10, 1979.

Appeal by the district attorney from an order of the trial court granting the defendant's motion for judgment of acquittal.

Affirmed

1. APPEAL AND ERRORDistrict Attorney — Sufficiency of Evidence — Acquittal — Correct Standard. Appeals by the district attorney from adverse rulings on the sufficiency of the evidence in criminal cases serve little purpose and are rarely productive of any precedential value; particularly, in instant case, where the trial court made it unmistakably clear on the record that it applied the correct standard for the granting of defendant's motion for judgment of acquittal.

Appeal from the District Court of El Paso County, Honorable Bernard R. Baker, Judge.

Robert L. Russel, District Attorney, John T. Riggs, Deputy, for plaintiff-appellant.

J. Gregory Walta, State Public Defender, Craig L. Truman, Chief Deputy, Margaret L. O'Leary, Deputy, for defendant-appellee.


[1] We are again presented with another district attorney's appeal from an order of the trial court granting the defendant's motion for judgment of acquittal. We can only reiterate our position on such appeals:

"This type of appeal challenging the sufficiency of the evidence serves little purpose and is rarely productive of any precedential value."

People v. Berry, 198 Colo. 258, 598 P.2d 1044 (1979). See also People v. Kirkland, 174 Colo. 362, 483 P.2d 1349 (1971). This case is no exception, especially in light of the fact that the trial court made it unmistakably clear on the record that it applied the correct standard for the granting of such motions as expressed by this court in People v. Bennett, 183 Colo. 125, 515 P.2d 466 (1973).

Judgment affirmed.


Summaries of

People v. Martinez

Supreme Court of Colorado. En Banc
Dec 10, 1979
603 P.2d 944 (Colo. 1979)
Case details for

People v. Martinez

Case Details

Full title:The People of the State of Colorado v. Alexander Peter Martinez

Court:Supreme Court of Colorado. En Banc

Date published: Dec 10, 1979

Citations

603 P.2d 944 (Colo. 1979)
603 P.2d 944

Citing Cases

People v. Waggoner

Such appeals have been strongly discouraged. See People v. Martinez, 198 Colo. 577, 603 P.2d 944 (1979);…

People v. Thompson

Such appeals have been strongly discouraged. See People v. Martinez, 198 Colo. 577, 603 P.2d 944 (1979);…