Garcia v. People.

2022 CO 6. No. 20SC758. Instructions—Criminal Law—Right to a Jury Trial.

February 7, 2022

In this opinion, the Supreme Court reviewed whether the trial court violated defendant’s right to be presumed innocent by providing a supplemental jury instruction that defined the phrase “seizes and carries,” as used in the second-degree kidnapping statute, CRS § 18-3-302(1), as “any movement, however short in distance.” Because this instruction was an incorrect statement of the law that allowed the jury to convict defendant without finding that he seized the victim or moved the victim from one place to another, the error was not harmless, and defendant’s conviction cannot stand.

Accordingly, the Court of Appeals’ judgment was reversed.