People v. Kruse

Summary

The Colorado Court of Appeals reversed Brian Scott Kruse's convictions for first degree assault, first degree criminal trespass, and crime of violence, remanding for a new trial. The court held that statements made to a psychiatric service worker during the defendant's court-ordered sanity-examination hospitalization were inadmissible under Colorado Revised Statutes § 16-8-107(1) and the privilege against self-incrimination. The court rejected the defendant's claims concerning inquiry into his withdrawn insanity plea and the sufficiency of the trespass evidence.

Holdings

1. The phrase "during the course of a court-ordered examination" in section 16-8-107(1) includes all communications made by a defendant to any hospital employee during hospitalization for a sanity examination. The psychiatric service worker's testimony about Kruse's statements was therefore inadmissible because it violated the defendant's privilege against self-incrimination.
2. The defendant could not obtain reversal based on the prosecution's inquiry into his original insanity plea because the defendant first referred to that plea and thereby invited or injected the alleged error.
3. The evidence was sufficient to support the criminal-trespass conviction because Kruse's admissions to an investigating police officer, corroborated by testimony from several witnesses, established the offense beyond a reasonable doubt.

Questions Presented

1. Whether statements made by the defendant to a psychiatric service worker during hospitalization for a court-ordered sanity examination were inadmissible under section 16-8-107(1) and the privilege against self-incrimination.
2. Whether the prosecution improperly explored the defendant's original plea of not guilty by reason of insanity under CRE 410.
3. Whether sufficient evidence supported the defendant's conviction for criminal trespass.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded