People v. Alicia Andrea Martinez ( 2022 )

The summaries of the Colorado Court of Appeals published opinions
constitute no part of the opinion of the division but have been prepared by
the division for the convenience of the reader. The summaries may not be
cited or relied upon as they are not the official language of the division.
Any discrepancy between the language in the summary and in the opinion
should be resolved in favor of the language in the opinion.
SUMMARY
December 15, 2022
2022COA142No. 21CA0883, Peo v Martinez — Criminal Law — Probation —
Restitution — Payment Schedule — Monitoring, Default,
Penalties — Extend Period of Probation — Reduction or
Increase for Good Cause Shown
A division of the court of appeals addresses two issues
concerning the extension of a defendant’s probation where the
defendant has made regular restitution payments pursuant to a
payment schedule established under section 16-18.5-104(4)(a)(I),
C.R.S. 2022, but still has not paid the full amount of restitution.
The division first concludes that section 16-18.5-105(3)(d)(III),
C.R.S. 2022, does not authorize an extension of probation where a
defendant has made all the payments required under a payment
schedule, simply because the restitution hasn’t been fully paid.
The division also concludes that the circumstances of the case do
not establish “good cause” to extend probation under section
18-1.3-204(4)(a), C.R.S. 2022.
Accordingly, the division reverses the trial court’s order
extending the defendant’s probation and remands the case with
directions to terminate the defendant’s probation.
COLORADO COURT OF APPEALS 2022COA142Court of Appeals No. 21CA0883
El Paso County District Court No. 16CR1482
Honorable David A. Gilbert, Judge
The People of the State of Colorado,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
Alicia Andrea Martinez,
Defendant-Appellant.
ORDER REVERSED AND CASE
REMANDED WITH DIRECTIONS
Division VII
Opinion by JUDGE GOMEZ
Harris and Pawar, JJ., concur
Announced December 15, 2022
Philip J. Weiser, Attorney General, Carmen Moraleda, Senior Assistant
Attorney General, Denver, Colorado, for Plaintiff-Appellee
Megan A. Ring, Colorado State Public Defender, Mackenzie Shields, Deputy
State Public Defender, Denver, Colorado, for Defendant-Appellant
¶1 Andrea Alicia Martinez appeals the trial court’s order
extending her probation based on her failure to pay the full amount
of restitution by the end of her probationary period. Because of
Martinez’s indigence, a collections investigator had assessed her
ability to pay restitution and put her on a payment schedule under
section 16-18.5-104(4)(a)(I), C.R.S. 2022. Although Martinez made
all of the required payments, at the end of her initial four-year
probationary period, the balance of her restitution judgment had
gone up — not down — because her payments hadn’t offset the
accrued interest. Consequently, the trial court extended her
probation for another five years, indicating that at the end of that
term, it would review her progress toward paying off her restitution.
¶2 Resolving Martinez’s appeal requires us to address two novel
issues concerning a court’s authority to extend probation for failure
to pay the full amount of restitution. We first conclude that section
16-18.5-105(3)(d)(III), C.R.S. 2022, does not authorize an extension
of probation where a defendant has made all the payments required
under a payment schedule established under section 16-18.5-
104(4)(a)(I), simply because the restitution hasn’t been fully paid.
We also conclude that the circumstances of this case do not
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establish “good cause” to extend probation under section 18-1.3-
204(4)(a), C.R.S. 2022.
¶3 Accordingly, we reverse the order and remand the case with
directions to terminate Martinez’s probation.
I. Background
¶4 In 2016, Martinez pleaded guilty to one count of vehicular
assault. She was sentenced to four years of supervised probation
and ordered to pay $150,553.07 in restitution.
¶5 Because Martinez couldn’t pay the full amount of restitution at
that time, a collections investigator assessed her ability to pay and
established a payment schedule under section 16-18.5-104(4)(a)(I).
Initially, the schedule, which was approved by the court, required
her to pay $50 per month. That amount was later increased to
$100 per month. Over the course of her probationary period,
Martinez satisfied her monthly payment obligation every month
except for two months, in which she initially missed payments after
losing her job but then later repaid the amounts owed, bringing her
into compliance with her payment schedule.
¶6 About a month before the expiration of Martinez’s term of
probation, her probation officer filed a complaint to revoke her
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probation. The only allegation in support of revocation was that she
hadn’t yet paid the full amount of restitution. The probation officer
recommended that Martinez’s probation be revoked and reinstated
for ten years of unsupervised probation so that she could continue
to make payments toward restitution, which by then, with accrued
interest, totaled $188,296.66.
¶7 At a hearing on the revocation complaint, the trial court heard
testimony from Martinez, her probation officer, her father, and her
sister. At the end of the hearing, the court found that Martinez had
made the required payments toward her restitution obligation but
had failed to pay the total amount of restitution owed. The court
also found that Martinez had the ability to continue making
payments but not the ability to pay the full remaining amount of
restitution. Under these circumstances, the court concluded, the
“right thing to do” was to extend the probation period under section
16-18.5-105(3)(d)(III). Without revoking Martinez’s probation, the
court extended it for five years, unsupervised, conditioned solely on
continued payment of restitution. The court indicated that it would
set the matter for review again after that five-year period.
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II. Discussion
¶8 Martinez contends that the trial court lacked authority to
extend her probation under section 16-18.5-105(3)(d)(III). She
further contends that section 18-1.3-204(4)(a) does not provide a
basis for the court’s extension. We agree with both contentions.
A. Standard of Review
¶9 We review de novo issues of statutory interpretation and
whether a trial court applied the correct legal standard. People v.
Rainey, 2021 CO 53, ¶ 14; People v. Roletto, 2015 COA 41, ¶ 9.
B. Authority to Extend Under Section 16-18.5-105(3)(d)(III)
¶ 10 Martinez first contends that the trial court lacked authority to
extend her probation under section 16-18.5-105(3)(d) because she
hadn’t failed to make a payment under her payment schedule and
because the statutory procedures weren’t followed. We agree.
¶ 11 When a defendant fails to make payments under a restitution
payment schedule, section 16-18.5-105(3)(d) allows the collections
investigator to request that the court issue a notice to show cause
as to why the required payments weren’t made. The statute further
provides that the court may extend the period of probation upon a
finding that the defendant has failed to pay, unless the defendant
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establishes that they were unable to make the payments.
§ 16-18.5-105(3)(d)(III).
¶ 12 At the probation revocation hearing, the trial court relied on
section 16-18.5-105(3)(d)(III) to extend Martinez’s probation. The
court reasoned that Martinez failed to pay the full amount of
restitution and had the ability to continue making payments,
although not the ability to pay off the entire amount still owed.
Therefore, the court concluded that section 16-18.5-105(3)(d)(III)
applied to authorize the extension of her probation.
¶ 13 But section 16-18.5-105(3) governs in circumstances when a
defendant “fails to make a payment of restitution,” not when a
defendant fails to pay the full amount of restitution ordered.
§ 16-18.5-105(3) (emphasis added). And here, the parties agree, as
do we, that Martinez hadn’t failed to make a scheduled payment.
(Although the record reflects that she had previously missed two
payments when she lost her job, she’d repaid those amounts before
the date of the revocation complaint.)
¶ 14 Furthermore, section 16-18.5-105(3) outlines the procedures
for a collections investigator to follow at least seven days after a
defendant fails to make a scheduled payment. See People v. Reyes,
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207 P.3d 872, 874-75 (Colo. App. 2008). Here, however, there is no
evidence that a collections investigator was involved at the time
Martinez missed the two earlier payments or ever requested the
court to issue a notice to show cause for any alleged failure to make
a restitution payment within seven days of the due date. Rather,
the record establishes that, as of the time of the probation
revocation hearing, Martinez hadn’t failed to make any required
payments and was current on her monthly obligations.
¶ 15 Therefore, section 16-18.5-105(3)(d)(III) is inapplicable, both
because Martinez hadn’t failed to make a scheduled payment at the
time her probation period was extended and because its notice
procedures weren’t followed. Accordingly, the trial court erred by
extending Martinez’s probation on this basis.
C. Authority to Extend Under Section 18-1.3-204(4)(a)
¶ 16 Martinez also contends that section 18-1.3-204(4)(a) cannot
provide a basis for the trial court’s extension of her probation
because there was no good cause for such an extension under the
facts of this case. Again, we agree.
¶ 17 Section 18-1.3-204(4)(a) provides that a court may increase
the term of probation where (1) “good cause” is shown to extend the
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term; (2) notice has been provided to the defendant, the district
attorney, and the probation officer; and (3) a hearing has been held,
if the defendant or the district attorney requested one. People v.
Romero, 198 P.3d 1209, 1211 (Colo. App. 2007).
¶ 18 As an initial matter, we disagree with the People’s contention
that because the trial court relied solely on section 16-18.5-
105(3)(d)(III) to extend Martinez’s probation and didn’t consider the
applicability of section 18-1.3-204(4)(a), we should remand the case
for the trial court to consider section 18-1.3-204(4)(a). The parties
do not dispute the trial court’s factual findings that Martinez made
payments toward her restitution obligation as required but failed to
pay the total amount of restitution owed and that Martinez had the
ability to continue making the scheduled payments. Because the
controlling facts are not in dispute and because the parties
appropriately addressed the applicability of section 18-1.3-204(4)(a)
on appeal, we needn’t remand the case to the trial court for further
findings. See People v. Taylor, 2018 CO 35, ¶ 7 (an appellate court
is essentially in the same position as the trial court when reviewing
the application of law to undisputed facts).
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¶ 19 Turning to the merits, Martinez completed all of her probation
conditions, except for paying the full amount of restitution ordered.
She diligently made payments toward her restitution obligation as
required under her court-approved payment schedule. But despite
her regular payments, with the addition of interest, the balance of
her obligation had increased from $150,553.07 to $188,296.66. As
Martinez’s probation officer noted, the “restitution interest balance
exceed[ed] any amount[] [Martinez] [was] able to pay on the
princip[al].” Indeed, Martinez’s monthly payment of $100 per
month — the amount the collections investigator found she was
able to pay — would not even cover the interest, which accrued at a
rate of eight percent per year. See § 18-1.3-603(4)(b)(I), C.R.S.
2022. It is therefore unrealistic to expect that, under her current
circumstances, Martinez would ever be able to pay off the entirety of
her restitution obligation.
¶ 20 While a sentence to probation is a privilege and not a right,
see People v. Ickler, 877 P.2d 863, 866 (Colo. 1994), it nevertheless
carries with it certain weighty obligations and consequences. For
instance, a defendant on probation faces the potential, if probation
is revoked for any reason, of being resentenced to any term of
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incarceration that might have originally been imposed for the
underlying offense. See § 16-11-206(5), C.R.S. 2022. And a
defendant on probation faces many collateral consequences, such
as possible restrictions on employment opportunities,1 travel,
curfew, use of alcohol, and possession of weapons, as well as
privacy restrictions, including consenting to searches of their
residence, vehicle, electronic devices, and other personal effects.2
¶ 21 Considering the continued threat of incarceration and the
panoply of restrictions that may be imposed upon a defendant on
probation, we cannot agree that good cause justifies the extension
of probation under the circumstances of this case. Otherwise, the
probation of any indigent defendant could be extended repeatedly
and indefinitely, amounting to the functional equivalent of a lifetime
1 For instance, persons on probation are ineligible to enlist in any
military services, see 32 C.F.R. § 66.6(b)(8)(i) (2022); they are
ineligible to hold any office of honor, trust, or profit or to practice as
an attorney, see § 18-1.3-401(3), C.R.S. 2022; and they are
ineligible to apply for a gaming license until ten years after their
probation ends, see § 44-30-801(2)(c), C.R.S. 2022.
2 Each of these travel, curfew, alcohol, weapon, and privacy
restrictions were conditions originally imposed upon Martinez
during the pendency of her supervised probation sentence. See
generally § 18-1.3-204, C.R.S. 2022 (listing mandatory and
discretionary conditions of probation).
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sentence to probation, simply because of the defendant’s indigence.
See Commonwealth v. Henry, 55 N.E.3d 943, 952 (Mass. 2016)
(holding that a court may not extend a term of probation because of
an inability to pay restitution and noting that “extending the length
of a probationary period because of a probationer’s inability to pay
subjects the probationer to additional punishment solely because of
his or her poverty”).
¶ 22 This is particularly so given that our statutes provide a
mechanism for the continued payment of restitution as a civil
judgment after a probation sentence has been completed. See
§ 18-1.3-603(4)(a)(I) (an order of restitution “is a final civil judgment
in favor of the state and any victim” that “remains in force until the
restitution is paid in full”); Roberts v. People, 130 P.3d 1005, 1010
(Colo. 2006) (section 18-1.3-603(4)(a) allows for collection of a
restitution award “without the time and expense necessary to file an
additional civil action”). Our statutes also provide other
mechanisms for the enforcement of a restitution judgment. See
§ 16-18.5-107, C.R.S. 2022; Allman v. People, 2019 CO 78, ¶ 35 n.8
(holding that the trial court couldn’t sentence the defendant to
imprisonment and probation on different counts in the same case
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regardless of the court’s interest in supervising the defendant for an
extended time to ensure he paid his restitution and noting that
“[t]he legislature has already provided methods for victims to receive
their restitution” (citing § 16-18.5-107)).
¶ 23 The People rely on Romero in support of their argument that
the failure to pay court-ordered restitution in full constitutes good
cause to extend probation. In Romero, a division of this court
addressed whether a trial court had jurisdiction to extend a
defendant’s probation where a joint motion and stipulated order to
extend probation was filed with the court on the last day of the
probationary period but wasn’t signed by the court until the
following day. 198 P.3d at 1210. In its analysis, the division
referenced the requirements of section 18-1.3-204(4) and noted that
the fact that the “defendant had not paid court-ordered restitution”
supplied “good cause under section 16-18.5-105(3)(d)(III) to extend
his probation.” Id. at 1211.
¶ 24 But the division in Romero wasn’t faced with the question of
whether a failure to pay the full amount of restitution before the
end of the probationary term, when a defendant has diligently made
payments as required by a payment schedule, should constitute
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good cause to extend probation. Rather, in deciding whether the
execution and filing of the motion and stipulated order to extend
probation tolled the running of the probationary period, the division
simply addressed the actions necessary to initiate a proceeding to
extend probation under the applicable statutes. See id. at 1210-11.
Nevertheless, to the extent that our analysis conflicts with the
division’s opinion in Romero, we respectfully decline to follow it.
See People v. Thomas, 195 P.3d 1162, 1164 (Colo. App. 2008) (one
division of the court of appeals is not bound by the decision of
another division).
¶ 25 We are not persuaded otherwise by the People’s argument that
an offender’s probationary status can act as an incentive to
continue payments of restitution, thus justifying the extension of
probation under the circumstances presented here. The threat of
incarceration, while potentially providing some motivation to
continue paying restitution, also “may have the perverse effect of
inducing the probationer to use illegal means to acquire funds to
pay in order to avoid revocation.” Bearden v. Georgia, 461 U.S. 660,
671 (1983). And such a risk is unnecessary because our statutory
scheme allows for continued payments of restitution to victims after
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a defendant’s sentence is complete. See § 18-1.3-603(4)(a)(I); see
also Huggett v. State, 266 N.W.2d 403, 409 (Wis. 1978) (“If the
probationer lacks the capacity to pay and has demonstrated a good
faith effort during probation, failure to make restitution cannot be
‘cause’ for extending probation. . . . [T]he criminal justice system
should not be employed to supplement a civil suit or as a threat to
coerce the payment of a civil liability or to perform the functions of
a collection agency.”).
¶ 26 Accordingly, we conclude that the trial court erred when it
extended Martinez’s probation to compel her to continue to make
payments toward her restitution obligation.3
III. Conclusion
¶ 27 The order is reversed, and the case is remanded to the trial
court with directions to terminate Martinez’s probation.
JUDGE HARRIS and JUDGE PAWAR concur.
3 Because we agree that the trial court didn’t have good cause to
extend Martinez’s probation under section 18-1.3-204(4)(a), we
don’t address Martinez’s alternative argument that she didn’t
receive sufficient notice as required by statute.
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