The Colorado Court of Appeals released one opinion today. Read the summary and opinion below.
The People of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Yasniel Fonseca, Jr., Defendant-Appellant. 2026 COA 63. In this criminal appeal, the defendant challenges the
sufficiency of the evidence to support his conviction for third degree assault as an act of domestic violence, on the ground that he and the victim, who had recently started seeing each other, were not in an “intimate relationship” for purposes of section 18-6-800.3(1)-(2), C.R.S. 2025.
Applying the factors set forth in People v. Disher, 224 P.3d 254, 258 (Colo. 2010), a division of the court of appeals concludes that neither the relatively short duration of the relationship nor the parties’ own characterizations of it are dispositive of whether the defendant and the victim were in an intimate relationship; instead, determining the nature of the relationship entails an objective, fact-intensive inquiry that turns on the totality of the evidence.
Because the division concludes that a reasonable jury could have found that the defendant and the victim were in an intimate relationship and rejects the defendant’s other contentions of error, it affirms the defendant’s conviction. Read the opinion.