David Lewis McCoy, Petitioner v. the People of the State of Colorado, Respondent.

Summary

The Supreme Court of Colorado affirmed David McCoy's convictions for unlawful sexual contact under section 18-3-404(1)(g), C.R.S., first holding that sufficiency-of-the-evidence claims may be raised for the first time on appeal and must be reviewed de novo rather than for plain error, even when they require preliminary questions of statutory construction. Construing the ambiguous provision through its legislative history, the court held that it applies to a doctor or other individual who is, or holds himself or herself out to be, a health treatment provider of any kind, and who knowingly subjects a victim to sexual contact while examining, treating, or purporting to examine or treat the victim for other than a bona fide medical purpose or in a manner substantially inconsistent with reasonable medical practices; on that construction the statute is neither facially overbroad nor unconstitutionally vague, and the evidence sufficed to support both convictions. Justice Samour, joined by Chief Justice Coats and Justice Boatright, concurred in the judgment only, contending that plain error review should govern the unpreserved claim.