Rehearing
Denied May 30, 2019.
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[Copyrighted Material Omitted]
Page 1170
Jefferson
County District Court No. 16CR3708 Honorable Christopher C.
Zenisek, Judge.
Philip
J. Weiser, Attorney General, Trina K. Taylor, Assistant
Attorney General, Denver, Colorado, for Plaintiff-Appellee.
Megan
A. Ring, Colorado State Public Defender, Jessica Sommer,
Deputy State Public Defender, Denver, Colorado, for
Defendant-Appellant.
OPINION
ROMÁ
N, JUDGE.
[¶1]
Defendant, Brittany Page Harrison, appeals the judgment of
conviction entered after a jury found her guilty of
possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug
paraphernalia. Because we conclude the evidence at trial was
insufficient to disprove the affirmative defense of immunity
for persons suffering a drug overdose under section 18-1-711,
C.R.S. 2018, we vacate the judgment.
Page 1171
I.
Background
[¶2]
Defendant and her friend, A.M., entered a Burger King
restaurant, ordered a meal, and sat down at a booth. About an
hour and a half later, staff at the restaurant noticed
defendant and A.M. had not touched their food and were
slumped over each other, "asleep." An employee made
multiple attempts to wake them by yelling at them, shaking
them, and banging on the table. Still, defendant and A.M. did
not move or open their eyes. A short while later, the general
manager called 911 because she was "concerned for their
well-being" and worried "something [could] be
wrong."[1]
[¶3]
When a police corporal arrived, defendant and A.M. were still
unconscious. However, the corporal was able to wake defendant
by announcing himself and shaking her forcefully. At that
point, defendant was sluggish and confused. Because A.M.
still did not wake up, the corporal called paramedics.
[¶4]
Defendant gave the corporal her identification and told him
that she had not used drugs that day. But, a second police
officer arrived on the scene and noticed defendant
"looked to be under the influence of some
substance."
[¶5]
Defendant gave the corporal permission to search her purse.
He found a baggie with a tar-type substance in it, a syringe,
a spoon, a torch, and tin-foil with burn marks. The substance
in the baggie later tested positive for heroin.
[¶6]
Defendant also consented to a search of her backpack, which
contained two glass pipes, a lighter, butane fluid, two
butane torches, aluminum foil, and another baggie containing
a powdery substance that later tested positive for
methamphetamine.
[¶7]
When paramedics arrived, A.M., who was still unconscious, was
taken to the ...