People v. Fontes
Court of Appeals of Colorado
89 P.3d 484 (2003)
- Written by Craig Conway, LLM
Facts
Jesus Fontes (defendant) had three children aged 16 months to 11 years. Each of the children suffered health problems and was malnourished. After being denied food by a food bank and seeing no other alternative to obtain food, Fontes went to a convenience store, presented a false identification card, and attempted to cash a forged payroll check. The State of Colorado (plaintiff) charged Fontes with forgery, criminal impersonation, and misdemeanor theft. At trial, Fontes’s wife testified that Fontes intended to use the money to feed his children. At the close of the evidence, the trial court refused Fontes’s request for a jury instruction on the defense of necessity (i.e., the choice of evils defense). Fontes was convicted, and he appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Graham, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 803,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
