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Constitutional Law Keyed to Choper
Nelson v. Colorado
Citation:
137 S. Ct. 1249 (2017)Facts
Shannon Nelson was convicted in 2006 of five counts related to alleged sexual and physical abuse of her four children. The trial court imposed a prison sentence of 20 years to life and ordered Nelson to pay $8,192.50 in court costs, fees, and restitution. On appeal, her conviction was reversed for trial error, and on retrial, she was acquitted of all charges. Louis Madden was convicted in 2005 of attempting to patronize a prostituted child and attempted third-degree sexual assault by force. The court imposed an indeterminate prison sentence and ordered him to pay $4,413.00 in costs, fees, and restitution. After one conviction was reversed on direct review and the other vacated on postconviction review, the State elected not to appeal or retry the case. Between Nelson’s conviction and acquittal, the Colorado Department of Corrections withheld $702.10 from her inmate account. Madden paid Colorado $1,977.75 after his conviction. Once their convictions were invalidated, both petitioners moved for return of the funds, but Colorado refused, claiming they needed to seek refunds under the Exoneration Act, which required them to prove their innocence by clear and convincing evidence.
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