People v. Walker
44 Colo. App. 249, 1980 Colo. App. LEXIS 667, 615 P.2d 57 (1980)
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Rule of Law:
A person commits theft by knowingly taking property from another without authorization, even if the person believes the victim is deceased, because property rights immediately transfer to the deceased's heirs or estate upon death. Furthermore, providing an opportunity for a predisposed person to commit a crime does not constitute entrapment.
Facts:
- A team of six Denver police officers conducted a decoy operation where one officer posed as an intoxicated person lying face down in a shop entryway.
- The decoy officer carried a wallet containing marked bills totaling $240.
- The defendant approached the decoy officer.
- The defendant came to believe that the decoy officer was a dead man.
- The defendant then took the wallet containing the marked money from the officer's person.
- Police apprehended the defendant less than a block away and found the marked bills folded in his pocket.
Procedural Posture:
- The defendant was charged with theft in a Colorado trial court.
- At trial, the defendant moved for a judgment of acquittal, arguing he lacked specific intent and was entrapped.
- The trial court denied the motion for acquittal.
- A jury found the defendant guilty of theft.
- The defendant, as appellant, appealed his conviction to the Colorado Court of Appeals.
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Issue:
Does a defendant lack the specific intent to 'deprive another' of property, as required for a theft conviction, when they take property from a person they believe to be dead?
Opinions:
Majority - Enoch, Chief Judge.
No. A defendant's belief that the victim is dead does not negate the specific intent for theft because property rights are not extinguished upon death but are immediately transferred to the deceased's heirs or estate. Therefore, taking property from a body is still depriving 'another' of their property. The court reasoned that even if the defendant acted in the good faith belief that the man was dead, he was not entitled to possession of the property. Under Colorado law, heirs or devisees become the rightful possessors of a decedent's property from the moment of death. The court also rejected the defendant's entrapment defense, holding that police merely furnishing an opportunity for a crime to be committed by one who is 'ready and willing' is not entrapment. The defendant's own testimony that he decided the 'dead' man would have no further use of his money demonstrated his predisposition to commit the crime.
Analysis:
This decision clarifies that the 'another' element in theft statutes includes a deceased person's estate or heirs, preventing a defendant from using a mistake of fact about the victim's life status as a defense. It solidifies the legal fiction that property rights transfer instantaneously upon death, ensuring that property is never without an owner. The case also reinforces Colorado's adherence to the subjective test for entrapment, which focuses on the defendant's predisposition rather than the objective conduct of law enforcement. This precedent strengthens the legal standing of police decoy operations aimed at individuals already inclined to commit criminal acts.
