People v. Cali

Summary

The Colorado Supreme Court held that a defendant is not entitled to the benefit of amendatory legislation that took effect while his direct appeal was pending when he first seeks relief based on that legislation only after his conviction has become final. Because Cali's conviction became final when the court of appeals' mandate issued in May 2015, and he did not invoke the amended theft statute until his later Crim. P. 35(c) petition, the postconviction court lacked authority to apply the amendment, consistent with long-standing finality and separation-of-powers principles. The court also rejected Cali's attempt to reach the same result through section 18-1-410(1)(g) framed as ineffective assistance of appellate counsel, reasoning that such an exception would swallow the pre-finality limit of subsection (1)(f), and declined to consider his ineffective-assistance claim because it was not raised in the postconviction motion below. The judgment of the court of appeals was reversed.