Background
After killing his wife, Hector Frias pleaded guilty to second degree murder. The Adams County District Court sentenced him to thirty-six years in prison and ordered restitution with eight percent annual simple interest, as Colorado law required when the restitution order was entered in 2017.
In 2025, Frias moved for injunctive relief concerning restitution. He relied on a 2019 amendment that tolls restitution-interest accrual while a defendant serves a sentence in an in-state Department of Corrections facility. He asked the court to eliminate interest already accrued and halt further interest during his imprisonment. The district court denied the request.
The Court’s Holding
The Colorado Court of Appeals affirmed. The 2019 amendment expressly applies to restitution orders entered on or after July 1, 2019, and Frias’s restitution order was entered in 2017. That language plainly establishes prospective application only.
The court also rejected Frias’s assertion that the amendment should apply retroactively because it was procedural, remedial, or curative. The amendment modifies liabilities associated with restitution interest, and neither its text nor operation supports retroactive application. Frias also did not contend that the amendment took effect before his conviction became final on direct appeal.
Key Takeaways
- The 2019 tolling provision for restitution interest applies only to orders entered on or after July 1, 2019.
- A defendant with a pre-amendment restitution order cannot use that provision to erase accrued interest or pause future interest.
- Labeling an amendment procedural, remedial, or curative does not overcome explicit prospective-effective-date language.
Why It Matters
The decision enforces the legislature’s express temporal limit on Colorado’s restitution-interest reform. Defendants whose restitution orders predate July 1, 2019 remain subject to the interest rules in effect when their orders were entered, absent another basis for relief.