Colorado § 13-6-106 - Original criminal jurisdiction.

§ 13-6-106. Original criminal jurisdiction.

(1) The county court shall have concurrent original jurisdiction with the district court in the following criminal matters:

(a) Criminal actions for the violation of state laws which constitute misdemeanors or petty offenses, except those actions involving children over which the juvenile court of the city and county of Denver or the district courts of the state, other than in Denver, have exclusive jurisdiction;

(b) The issuance of warrants, the conduct of preliminary examinations, the conduct of dispositional hearings pursuant to section 16-5-301 (1), C.R.S., and section 18-1-404 (1), C.R.S., the issuance of bindover orders, and the admission to bail in felonies and misdemeanors.

(2) The provisions of subsection (1)(b) of this section shall not apply to any child under the age of eighteen years alleged to have committed a felony, except a crime of violence punishable by death or life imprisonment where the accused is sixteen years of age or older.

Source: L. 64: p. 411, § 6. C.R.S. 1963: § 37-13-6. L. 67: p. 1051, § 6. L. 79: (1)(a) amended, p. 599, § 15, effective July 1. L. 98: (1)(b) amended, p. 1274, § 4, July 1.

ANNOTATION

Law reviews. For article, "Commitment of Misdemeanants to the Colorado State Reformatory", see 29 Dicta 294 (1952).

Annotator's note. Since § 13-6-106 is similar to repealed § 37-7-1, CRS 53, relevant cases construing that provision have been included in the annotations to this section.

Under this section, the jurisdiction of county courts in criminal cases is limited to misdemeanors; hence a conviction of grand larceny in the county court and a sentence to the state penitentiary is void. Latham v. People, 136 Colo. 252, 317 P.2d 894 (1957).

The jurisdiction conferred by the general assembly in § 42-4-1504 for misdemeanors involving the operation of motor vehicles did not intend to impliedly repeal this section conferring original jurisdiction upon the county courts in misdemeanor cases. People v. Griffith, 130 Colo. 475, 276 P.2d 559 (1954).

Jurisdiction extends to offenses under § 42-4-1501. Jurisdiction of the county courts includes those offenses reclassified as misdemeanor traffic offenses under § 42-4-1501. Phillips v. County Court, 42 Colo. App. 187, 591 P.2d 600 (1979).

Since a person under age 18 can only be charged with an offense in the manner permitted by the Children's Code, the county court had no jurisdiction to entertain or to dispose of the merits of the proceeding involving an offense alleged against a juvenile and was without authority to go further than merely dismissing the case without prejudice for lack of jurisdiction. People in Interest of C.O., 870 P.2d 1266 (Colo. App. 1994).