People v. Ahuero

Citations

• 2017 CO 90
• 403 P.3d 171

Syllabus

This case required the Supreme Court to decide whether a trial court abused its discretion in denying a continuance that defense counsel requested seeking more time to prepare for trial. At the time the continuance was requested, the trial court considered the following factors: (1) defense counsel would have three weeks to prepare for a two- or three-day trial involving eight witnesses and no physical evidence, but defense counsel refused to make specific arguments on why the additional time was needed (2) the trial court would have had to rearrange its docket and possibly hand off the case to a different judge (3) priority is given to cases involving the sexual assault of a child and (4) the victim's family wanted to resolve the case promptly. The Supreme Court concluded that, under these circumstances, the trial court's decision to deny a continuance was not so manifestly arbitrary, unreasonable, or unfair to constitute an abuse of discretion. Therefore, the Court reversed the Court of Appeals' judgment and remanded the case for proceedings consistent with this opinion.