Sanoff v. People, 187 P.3d 576 (Colo. 2008). · Go Syfert
Sanoff v. People, 187 P.3d 576 (Colo. 2008). Cases Citing This Book View Copy Cite
“final judgment in a criminal case does not come until the defendant is acquitted, the charges are dismissed in their entirety, or the defendant is convicted and sentence is imposed.”
94 citation events (94 in the last 25 years) across 2 distinct courts.
Strongest positive: Peo v. Archibeque (coloctapp, 2025-02-13)
Treatment trajectory · 2009 → 2026 · click a year to view as-of
2009 2017 2026
Top citers, strongest first. 31 distinct citers. How cited ↗
discussed Cited as authority (verbatim quote) Peo v. Archibeque
Colo. Ct. App. · 2025 · signal: see · quote attribution · 1 verbatim quote · confidence high
n order of conviction need only include a determination whether the defendant is obligated to pay restitution, without designation of the amount
discussed Cited as authority (verbatim quote) Peo v. Medina
Colo. Ct. App. · 2024 · signal: see · quote attribution · 1 verbatim quote · confidence high
n order for a specific amount of restitution is itself an appealable order.
discussed Cited as authority (verbatim quote) Peo v. Jamison
Colo. Ct. App. · 2024 · quote attribution · 1 verbatim quote · confidence high
final judgment in a criminal case does not come until the defendant is acquitted, the charges are dismissed in their entirety, or the defendant is convicted and sentence is imposed.
cited Cited as authority (rule) Peo v. Schreiner
Colo. Ct. App. · 2026 · confidence medium
Tennyson v. People, 2025 CO 31 , ¶¶ 41-43; Weeks, ¶¶ 4, 30; Sanoff v. People, 187 P.3d 576, 578-79 (Colo. 2008).
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Peo v. Gonzalez
Colo. Ct. App. · 2025 · confidence medium
See People v. Cichuniec, 2025 COA 33 , ¶ 8 (concluding the mittimus reflecting convictions and sentences was a final judgment appealable when entered); Sanoff v. People, 187 P.3d 576, 579 (Colo. 2008) (concluding a defendant’s sentence, and therefore conviction, “became a final, appealable order upon issuance of the mittimus”).
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Peo v. Moench
Colo. Ct. App. · 2025 · confidence medium
A restitution order under section 23 18-1.3-603(1)(b), C.R.S. 2025, “allows a trial court, at or before sentencing, ‘to merely order that the defendant be obligated to pay restitution and postpone a determination of the specific amount of restitution.’” Id. at ¶ 41 (quoting Sanoff v. People, 187 P.3d 576, 578 (Colo. 2008)).
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Peo v. Harris
Colo. Ct. App. · 2025 · confidence medium
See Tennyson v. People, 2025 CO 31 , ¶ 50 (“Under subsection (1)(b), the amount of restitution is severed from the sentence . . . .”); Sanoff v. People, 187 P.3d 576, 578 (Colo. 2008) (noting that an order assigning liability for restitution is a necessary component of a 14 defendant’s sentence, and the judgment of conviction, while an order establishing the amount of restitution is not a required component of the defendant’s sentence). ¶ 29 Harris does not challenge the district court’s order that he is liable for restitution.
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Audrey Lee Tennyson v. The People of the State of Colorado (2×)
Colo. · 2025 · confidence medium
In Sanoff v. People , 187 P.3d 576, 579 (Colo. 2008), we held that a restitution order issued at sentencing pursuant to subsection (1)(b) that merely required the defendant to pay restitution and indicated that the amount due would be determined later sufficed to satisfy the restitution component of the sentence.
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Shaun Jeff Snow v. The People of the State of Colorado (2×)
Colo. · 2025 · confidence medium
Analysis A. Standard of Review ¶16 Subject to constitutional limitations, "it is the prerogative of the legislature to . . . prescribe sentences." Sanoff v. People , 187 P.3d 576, 577 (Colo. 2008).
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Peo v. Ramirez
Colo. Ct. App. · 2024 · confidence medium
See Meza v. People, 2018 CO 23, ¶ 14 (holding that nothing in the restitution statute precludes a court from “making findings at sentencing with regard to particular victims or losses of which the prosecution is aware, while reserving until a later date, within ninety-one days, findings with regard to other victims or losses of which the prosecution is not yet aware”); see also Weeks, ¶ 36 (“By way of example, subsection (3)(a) may apply in a situation in which the court has entered a subsection (1)(b) order preliminarily requiring a partial amount of restitution but deferring the fina…
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Peo v. Xiong (2×) also: Cited "see"
Colo. Ct. App. · 2024 · confidence medium
Timeliness ¶ 13 Every judgment in a felony case must include “consideration of restitution,” meaning it must include (a) an order fixing a specific amount of restitution; (b) an order requiring restitution but deferring the specific amount for up to ninety-one days; (c) an order fixing restitution and requiring the defendant to pay certain future costs; or (d) a finding that no restitution is owing. § 18-1.3- 603(1)(a)-(d), C.R.S. 2024; Weeks, ¶ 29. ¶ 14 But the statute distinguishes “an order assigning liability for restitution from a determination of the amount of restitution for 4…
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Peo v. Xiong (2×) also: Cited "see"
Colo. Ct. App. · 2024 · confidence medium
Timeliness ¶ 13 Every judgment in a felony case must include “consideration of restitution,” meaning it must include (a) an order fixing a specific amount of restitution; (b) an order requiring restitution but deferring the specific amount for up to ninety-one days; (c) an order fixing restitution and requiring the defendant to pay certain future costs; or (d) a finding that no restitution is owing. § 18-1.3- 603(1)(a)-(d), C.R.S. 2024; Weeks, ¶ 29. ¶ 14 But the statute distinguishes “an order assigning liability for restitution from a determination of the amount of restitution for 4…
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Peo v. Kinard
Colo. Ct. App. · 2024 · confidence medium
There, the supreme court interpreted section 18-1.3-603(1)(b) to mean that , “by specifying that an order of conviction need only inclu de a determination whether the defendant is obligated to pay restitution, without designation of the amount, the General Assembly has m ade clear its intent that the amount of the defendant’s liability no longer be a required component of a final judgment of conviction.” Sanoff , 187 P.3d at 578 (emphasis added). ¶ 16 We acknowledge that the district court in this case held open restitution for ninety-one days, which Weeks said is contrary to the statut…
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Peo v. Kinard
Colo. Ct. App. · 2024 · confidence medium
There, the supreme court interpreted section 18-1.3-603(1)(b) to mean that , “by specifying that an order of conviction need only inclu de a determination whether the defendant is obligated to pay restitution, without designation of the amount, the General Assembly has m ade clear its intent that the amount of the defendant’s liability no longer be a required component of a final judgment of conviction.” Sanoff , 187 P.3d at 578 (emphasis added). ¶ 16 We acknowledge that the district court in this case held open restitution for ninety-one days, which Weeks said is contrary to the statut…
discussed Cited as authority (rule) William J. Hunsaker, Jr. v. The People of the State of Colorado (2×) also: Cited "see, e.g."
Colo. · 2021 · confidence medium
P. 35 (c) arguments that are unrelated to the illegal sentence because the doctrine of divestment only prevents a lower court from entering "rulings affecting the judgment subject to appeal ." Sanoff v. People , 187 P.3d 576, 578 ( Colo. 2008 ) ( emphasis added ) ; see also id. ( noting that "the filing of a valid notice of appeal does not automatically strip the trial court of jurisdiction to take any further action" ) ; People v. Stewart , 55 P.3d 107, 126 ( Colo. 2002 ) ( "A trial court retains jurisdiction to act on matters that are not relative to and do not affect the judgment on appeal.…
discussed Cited as authority (rule) William J. HUNSAKER, Jr. v. The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado (2×) also: Cited "see, e.g."
Colo. · 2021 · confidence medium
P. 35 (c) arguments that are unrelated to the illegal sentence because the doctrine of divestment only prevents a lower court from entering "rulings affecting the judgment subject to appeal. " Sanoff v. People , 187 P.3d 576, 578 ( Colo. 2008 ) ( emphasis added ) ; see also id. ( noting that "the filing of a valid notice of appeal does not automatically strip the trial court of jurisdiction to take any further action" ) ; People v. Stewart , 55 P.3d 107, 126 ( Colo. 2002 ) ( "A trial court retains jurisdiction to act on matters that are not relative to and do not affect the judgment on appeal.…
discussed Cited as authority (rule) The People of the State of Colorado v. Benjamin Weeks
Colo. · 2021 · confidence medium
Assuming the ninety-one-day deadline in section 18-1.3-603 (1) (b) , C.R.S. ( 2019 ) , refers to the court 's obligation to determine the restitution amount, whether the court of appeals erred in concluding that the trial court 's extension of the prosecution 's deadline under section 18-1.3-603 (2) , C.R.S. ( 2019 ) , was insufficient to establish "good cause" for the court 's extension of its own deadline for issuing a restitution order. [9] In Sanoff v. People , 187 P.3d 576, 578-79 ( Colo. 2008 ) , we determined that, since a judgment of conviction becomes a final and appealable order with…
discussed Cited as authority (rule) v. Roddy (2×)
Colo. Ct. App. · 2020 · confidence medium
Given that restitution can be enforced after completion of a deferred sentence, and restitution is a separately appealable order, see Sanoff v. People, 187 P.3d 576, 578 (Colo. 2008), it follows that a defendant does not waive his right to appeal a restitution order by withdrawing his guilty plea. ¶ 10 Furthermore, the terms of the plea agreement did not indicate that defendant waived his right to appeal all non-jurisdictional issues related to the restitution order.
discussed Cited as authority (rule) v. Weeks
Colo. Ct. App. · 2020 · confidence medium
Further, in Sanoff v. People, 187 P.3d 576 (Colo. 2008), the supreme court equated a trial court’s jurisdiction “to set an amount of restitution” with the court’s jurisdiction “to determine the amount of restitution.” Id. at 579 (emphasis added).
discussed Cited as authority (rule) v. Butcher
Colo. Ct. App. · 2018 · confidence medium
As the court explained in Sanoff v. People, 187 P.3d 576, 578 (Colo. 2008): [T]he revised statutory structure . . . undermines the continuing validity of our earlier conclusion that the amount of restitution must be part of a judgment of conviction.
discussed Cited as authority (rule) People v. Vasseur (2×) also: Cited "see"
Colo. Ct. App. · 2016 · confidence medium
People, 187 P.3d 576, 578 (Colo. 2008).
discussed Cited as authority (rule) People v. Hill
Colo. Ct. App. · 2011 · confidence medium
While every order of conviction must include consideration of restitution, section 18-1.3-608(1)(b), C.R.S.2010, "expressly permits the sentencing court to merely order that the defendant be obligated to pay restitution and postpone a determination of the specific amount of restitution." Sanoff v. People, 187 P.3d 576, 578 (Colo.2008).
discussed Cited as authority (rule) People v. Guatney (2×)
unknown court · 2009 · confidence medium
Sanoff v. People, 187 P.3d 576, 577 (Colo.2008); People v. Gallegos, 946 P.2d 946, 950 (Colo.1997).
examined Cited "see" Peo v. Huntley (4×)
Colo. Ct. App. · 2025 · signal: see · confidence high
See Sanoff v. People, 187 P.3d 576, 578 (Colo. 2008).
examined Cited "see" Peo v. Plake (3×) also: Cited "see, e.g."
Colo. Ct. App. · 2025 · signal: see · confidence high
See Sanoff, 187 P.3d at 578-79 ; Tennyson, ¶ 21.
cited Cited "see" Peo v. Salaz
Colo. Ct. App. · 2024 · signal: see · confidence high
See Sanoff v. People, 187 P.3d 576, 578 (Colo. 2008). ¶ 12 Two statutory deadlines apply to the subsequent determination of the amount of restitution.
cited Cited "see" Meza v. People
Colo. · 2018 · signal: see · confidence high
See Sanoff , 187 P.3d at 578 .
discussed Cited "see" People v. Sterns
Colo. Ct. App. · 2013 · signal: see · confidence high
See Sanoff v. People, 187 P.3d 576, 577 (Colo.2008) ("[A] final judgment in a criminal case does not come until the defendant is acquitted, the charges are dismissed in their entirety, or the defendant is convicted and sentence is imposed." {emphasis added)); accord People v. Gallegos, 946 P.2d 946, 950 (Colo.1997); see Chamberlin, 74 P.3d at 490 (case was not completely dismissed for sealing purposes even though one of the individual charges had been dismissed).
discussed Cited "see" People v. Gabriesheski (2×)
Colo. · 2011 · signal: accord · confidence high
For criminal cases, we have consistently held that a judgment comes when "the defendant is acquitted, the charges are dismissed, or the defendant is convicted and sentence is imposed." Guatney, 214 P.3d at 1051 ; accord Samoff v. People, 187 P.3d 576, 577 (Colo.2008); Gallegos, 946 P.2d at 950 .
discussed Cited "see, e.g." Peo v. Bartelli
Colo. Ct. App. · 2026 · signal: see also · confidence medium
See People v. Cichuniec, 2025 COA 33 , ¶ 8 (concluding the mittimus reflecting convictions and sentences was a final judgment appealable when entered); see also Sanoff v. People, 187 P.3d 576, 579 (Colo. 2008) (concluding a defendant’s sentence, and therefore conviction, “became a final, appealable order upon issuance of the mittimus”). 5 court did not err by concluding that these claims were time barred. § 16-5-402(1).2 IV.
discussed Cited "see, e.g." People v. Belibi
Colo. · 2018 · signal: see also · confidence low
See § 18-1.3-603(1)(b), (c); see also Sanoff v. People , 187 P.3d 576 , 577-78 (Colo. 2008) (describing the pre-2000 requirement to order an amount of restitution and place it on the mittimus).
Retrieving the full opinion text from the archive…
Terry SANOFF, Petitioner
v.
the PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Respondent
06SC810.
Supreme Court of Colorado.
Jun 30, 2008.
187 P.3d 576
Douglas K. Wilson, Colorado State Public Defender, Mark G. Walta, Deputy State Public Defender, Karen N. Taylor, Deputy State Public Defender, Denver, Colorado, Attorneys for Petitioner., John W. Suthers, Attorney General, Paul Koehler, Assistant Attorney General, Denver, Colorado, Attorneys for Respondent.
Coats.
Cited by 301 opinions  |  Published
Justice COATS

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

Sanoff sought review of the court of appeals' judgment affirming the restitution component of her sentence. See People v. Sanoff, No. 03CA00522, 2006 WL 1644655 (Colo.App. June 15, 2006) (Not Selected for Publication). Although the district court did not determine the amount of restitution owed until some two years after imposing sentence, and although Sanoff had, in the interim, already initiated an appeal of her conviction, the court of appeals concluded that the district court was not divested of jurisdiction to impose a specific amount of restitution, either by delaying beyond the statutory time limit or by Sanoff's act of filing a notice of appeal. We granted Sanoffs petition for a writ of certiorari solely to review the latter holding.

Although the court of appeals erred in finding that Sanoff's judgment of conviction did not become final for purposes of appeal until the specific amount of her restitution obligation had been imposed, its judgment is nevertheless affirmed, for the reason that even filing a valid notice of appeal did not divest the district court of jurisdiction to set the amount of restitution previously ordered.

[*577] 1.

In August 2000, Terry Sanoff was convict, ed of theft of more than $15,000, committed over a number of years. On October 80, 2000, the district court entered judgment of conviction, including a sentence of ten-years incarceration and an order to make restitution. As authorized by the applicable statutory provision, [1] the court reserved ruling on the specific amount of restitution until the matter could be heard, and it scheduled the hearing for November 27, 2000. Although the prosecution filed a Motion for Restitution Order on November 27, the hearing was continued, and for reasons that are not entirely clear from the record, the matter was not heard until August 30, 2002. On January 27, 2003, the district court finally entered an order directing the defendant to pay $485,182.50 in restitution to the pediatric rehabilitation clinic from which she committed the theft, and to its insurer for the attorney fees expended in fighting a suit she had prosecuted against the clinic.

The defendant filed her first notice of appeal in October 2000, challenging her conviction and sentence. The court of appeals affirmed, and this court denied the defendant's petition for certiorari. See People v. Sanoff, No. 00CA2073, 2002 WL 31609187 (Colo.App. Nov. 21, 2002), cert. denied, (Colo. Sept. 8, 2003). Proceedings in the district court to determine the appropriate amount of restitution, as well as the court's order directing payment of that amount, therefore occurred during the pendency of the defendant's direct appeal in the appellate courts.

In March 2003, the defendant again filed a notice of appeal in the court of appeals, this time challenging the district court's order setting the amount of restitution, and the court of appeals again affirmed. People v. Sanoff, No. 03CA0522, 2006 WL 1644655 (Colo.App. June 15, 2006). In affirming the district court's order for a specific amount of restitution, the appellate court rejected the defendant's assertion that the 90-day time limit preseribed by statute is jurisdictional, and it found good cause for extending that time limit, under the cireamstances of this case. The appellate court also held that the district court was not deprived of jurisdiction by the defendant's earlier filing of a notice of appeal, reasoning that it was premature because the defendant's judgment of conviction did not become a final, appealable order until the specific amount of her restitution had been set.

We granted the defendant's petition for writ of certiorari, solely with regard to the court of appeals' holding concerning the effect of filing a notice of appeal on the district court's jurisdiction to subsequently order a specific amount of restitution.

H.

Subject to constitutional limitations not at issue here, it is the prerogative of the legislature to define crimes and prescribe sentences. Vensor v. People, 151 P.3d 1274, 1275 (Colo.2007). The General Assembly has long required that every sentence for a felony conviction include consideration of restitution. See § 18-1.3-603(1), C.R.S. (2007) (formerly § 18-1.3-108(1), C.R.S. (2000). Before substantial amendments to the statutory scheme in 2000, the applicable provision explicitly mandated that the amount of restitution be fixed by the court at the time of sentencing and be endorsed on the mittimus. See § 16-11-102(4), C.R.S. (1989).

Because a judgment of conviction includes the defendant's sentence, Crim. P. 82(b)(8), we have held that a final judgment in a criminal case does not come until the defendant is acquitted, the charges are dismissed in their entirety, or the defendant is conviet-ed and sentence is imposed. See People v. Gallegos, 946 P.2d 946, 950 (Colo.1997); see also Ellsworth v. People, 987 P.2d 264, 266 (Colo.1999); Hellman v. Rhodes, 741 P.2d 1258, 1259-60 (Colo.1987). Under the former statutory scheme, we had held that an order of restitution, including the amount the defendant was obliged to pay the victim, became part of his sentence, and therefore his judgment of conviction. People v. Johnson, 780 P.2d 504, 508 (Colo.1989). Accordingly, we held that an order of restitution also became appealable according to the statutory[*578] procedures applicable to appellate review of a felony sentence. Id. In reliance on that holding, the court of appeals has found that a judgment of conviction does not become ap-pealable until restitution has been imposed and continues to hold that the imposition of restitution for purposes of finality includes a determination by the sentencing court of the specific amount of restitution owed by the defendant. See People v. Rosales, 134 P.3d 429, 431-32 (Colo.App.2005), cert. denied, No. 058SC684, 2006 WL 1688389 (Colo. May 22, 2006).

In 2000, however, the General Assembly substantially reorganized the restitution scheme, adding an entirely new article titled "Restitution in Criminal Actions." See ch. 282, sec. 1, §§ 16-18.5-101-110, 2000 Colo. Sess. Laws 1030, 1030-41). In particular, section 16-18.5-103(1), now codified at § 18-1.3-608(1), altered the prior scheme by relieving the sentencing court of the obligation to set the amount of restitution at the time of imposing sentence and endorse it on the mittimus. While the statute continues to require that every order of conviction include consideration of restitution, it now expressly permits the sentencing court to merely order that the defendant be obligated to pay restitution and postpone a determination of the specific amount of restitution. See § 18-1.3-603(1)(b).

In doing so, the revised statutory structure now clearly distinguishes an order assigning liability for restitution from a determination of the amount of restitution for which the defendant is liable. In conjunction with eliminating the specific language upon which our holding in Johnson was premised, this amendment to the scheme undermines the continuing validity of our earlier conclusion that the amount of restitution must be part of a judgment of conviction. In fact, by specifying that an order of conviction need only include a determination whether the defendant is obligated to pay restitution, without designation of the amount, the General Assembly has made clear its intent that the amount of the defendant's lability no longer be a required component of a final judgment of conviction.

At the same time, however, the filing of a valid notice of appeal does not automatically strip the trial court of jurisdiction to take any further action in a criminal case. The doe-trine of divestment is intended to serve the interests of judicial efficiency, by preventing consideration of the same issue in different courts at the same time, and therefore it has never applied to more than trial court rulings affecting the judgment subject to appeal. See People v. Dillon, 655 P.2d 841, 844 (Colo.1983) (interpreting sometimes sweeping language of prior holdings as limiting trial court jurisdiction "relative to the order or judgment appealed from"); see also People v. Stewart, 55 P.3d 107, 126 (Colo.2002) ("A trial court retains jurisdiction to act on matters that are not relative to and do not affect the judgment on appeal."); Molitor v. Anderson, 795 P.2d 266, 269 (Colo.1990) ("[Thhe filing of a notice of appeal divests a trial court of authority to consider matters of substance affecting directly the judgment appealed from.") (emphasis added). Even trial court actions affecting the judgment on appeal may be authorized by statute or rule. Dillon, 655 P.2d at 844. Whether particular actions are specifically authorized by statute or rule, or do not affect the judgment of conviction at all, has therefore often been subject to dispute. See, eg., id. at 848 (Quinn, J., dissenting) (including a lengthy list of actions arguably still within trial court's jurisdiction).

Here, by express legislative action, a subsequent determination of the amount of restitution owed by a defendant, as distinguished from an order simply finding her liable to pay restitution, has been severed from the meaning of the term "sentence," as contemplated by Crim. P. 32, and therefore from her judgment of conviction. Neither subsequent proceedings to determine, nor an order assessing, a specific amount of restitution directly affects that judgment. The trial court is therefore not divested of jurisdiction to proceed to set an amount of restitution by an ongoing appeal of the defendant's convietion. -

As a separate, final judgment, however, an order for a specific amount of restitution is itself an appealable order. Where joining[*579] such an appeal with an ongoing appeal of the defendant's conviction would serve the interests of judicial efficiency, nothing in the statutory scheme prohibits the appellate court from doing so. Furthermore, the lengthy delay in this case is clearly atypical, and the statutory time limitation for completing the assessment of restitution actually suggests that such joinder is contemplated by the statutory scheme.

II.

Here, when the district court ordered the defendant liable to pay restitution, the restitution component of the defendant's sentence was satisfied. Her sentence, and therefore her judgment of conviction, became a final, appealable order upon issuance of the mitti-mus. By relying on Rosales, the court of appeals misapprehended the nature of the restitution order required at sentencing, and therefore the court's rationale for finding that the district court retained jurisdiction to determine the amount of restitution was mistaken. Nevertheless, because the district court retained jurisdiction to determine the amount of restitution for the separate reason that the specific amount of restitution is no longer part of the defendant's judgment of conviction, as contemplated by Crim. P. 32, the court of appeals' finding of jurisdiction was correct.

IV.

The judgment of the court of appeals is therefore affirmed.

1

. See § 18-1.3-603, C.R.S. (2007).