Scott v. Colorado

This case presented two issues for the Supreme Court’s review: (1) whether a double jeopardy claim can be raised for the first time on appeal; and (2) whether defendant William Costello Scott’s convictions for both aggravated robbery-menaced with a deadly weapon (“aggravated robbery-menaced victim”) and menacing amounted to plain error. In light of the Court’s opinion in “Reyna-Abarca v. Colorado,” (2017 CO 15, ___ P.3d ___),the Court concluded that unpreserved double jeopardy claims can be raised for the first time on appeal and that courts should ordinarily review such claims for plain error. Furthermore, the Court concluded that in the circumstances presented here, any error that might have occurred when the trial court entered judgment on Scott’s convictions for both aggravated robbery-menaced victim and menacing was not obvious and thus, did not amount to plain error. Accordingly, although the Court concluded that the division erred in declining to review Scott’s unpreserved double jeopardy claim, the Court nonetheless affirmed the judgment. View "Scott v. Colorado" on Justia Law