Close v. People

This case presents the issue of whether a criminal defendant who is sentenced pursuant to the erime of violence statute, section 16-11-309(1)(a), 6 C.R.S. (2001), is entitled, upon request, to a proportionality review of his sentence, and, if so, what is the proper scope of such proportionality review. The trial court declined to conduct a proportionality review of defendant Close's sixty-year sentence. The court of appeals affirmed. People v. Close, 22 P.3d 983, 989 (Colo.Ct. App.2000). Both courts based their conclusion on the fact that the sixty-year sentence was the mandatory minimum…