Mario Reyna-Abarca, Petitioner v. the People of the State of Colorado, Respondent; Dallas Cameron Hill…

Summary

The court held that defendants may raise unpreserved double-jeopardy claims for the first time on direct appeal, ordinarily subject to plain-error review, because such claims do not challenge defects in the charging document. It adopted a strict-elements subset test and concluded that DUI is a lesser included offense of vehicular assault-DUI and vehicular homicide-DUI, requiring merger and reversal of the duplicative DUI convictions. Justice Coats, joined by Justices Eid and Boatright, concurred in the plain-error ruling but dissented from the lesser-included-offense test and its application.