Background
When he was sixteen, Josiah Goshon and other juveniles robbed a man in Commerce City. Goshon struck the victim with a gun and shot him several times as the victim tried to escape. The victim was left paralyzed from the waist down.
The prosecution directly filed charges against Goshon in district court. He pleaded guilty to first degree assault with a crime-of-violence enhancer and received a six-year Youthful Offender System sentence, with a 24-year Department of Corrections sentence suspended upon successful completion. As part of the plea, he agreed to pay restitution.
The Court’s Holding
The Colorado Court of Appeals affirmed the order requiring Goshon to pay $168,080.44 to the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing for the victim’s Medicaid-covered medical care. Because Goshon was directly charged, convicted, and sentenced in adult criminal court under title 18, title 18’s restitution provisions governed.
The court rejected Goshon’s argument that the Children’s Code barred restitution to an insurance company. That title 19 restriction applies to juveniles who receive deferred adjudications or are adjudicated delinquent; Goshon instead was convicted in criminal court and sentenced under the adult criminal code, even though he received a YOS sentence. The court therefore did not decide whether Medicaid is an insurance company for purposes of title 19.
Key Takeaways
- A juvenile directly filed into adult criminal court is subject to title 18 restitution rules.
- A YOS sentence does not convert an adult criminal conviction into a juvenile delinquency adjudication.
- Because title 19 did not apply, the court did not address whether Medicaid qualifies as an insurance company under that statute.
Why It Matters
The decision confirms that juveniles prosecuted and sentenced as adults may be ordered to make full restitution under Colorado’s adult criminal restitution statute, including reimbursement for Medicaid-funded care. The Children’s Code limitation on restitution to insurance companies does not govern merely because the defendant was a juvenile at the time of the offense.