Terry Townsend, Petitioner v. the People of the State of Colorado, Respondent — Bender, J., Dissenting

Summary

Justice Bender, dissenting, would have reversed Townsend's felony-escape conviction because the trial court, witnesses, and prosecutor improperly treated every ISP directive as an extended limit on confinement and thereby allowed conviction for conduct that did not constitute escape. The dissent also identified inadequate notice, an erroneous instruction defining escape as beginning with the conception of an escape plan, and cumulative prejudice that lowered the prosecution's burden of proof. The dissent agreed with the majority that the statute was not unconstitutionally vague and did not violate separation-of-powers or nondelegation principles.