Timothy Paul Beagle v. The People of the State of Colorado

── Timothy Paul Beagle v. The People of the State of Colorado ── Court: Supreme Court of Colorado Date: April 27, 2026 Category: General 1 2026 CO 24 Timothy Paul Beagle, Petitioner v. The People of the State of Colorado, Respondent No. 24SC154 Supreme Court of Colorado, En Banc April 27, 2026 2           Certiorari to the Colorado Court of Appeals Court of Appeals Case No. 22CA594.           Attorneys for Petitioner: Megan A. Ring, Public Defender Kevin M. Whitfield, Deputy Public Defender.           Attorneys for Respondent: Philip J. Weiser, Attorney General Jaycey DeHoyos, Assistant Attorney General.           Attorneys for Amicus Curiae ACLU of Colorado: Timothy R. Macdonald, Sara Neel, Emma Mclean-Riggs.           OPINION           BOATRIGHT, JUSTICE. 3          ¶1 At sentencing, the district court designated Timothy Paul Beagle as a sexually violent predator ("SVP"). On appeal, Beagle argued that his SVP designation constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution. A division of the court of appeals rejected this argument based on our precedent in Allen v. People, 2013 CO 44, ¶ 7, 307 P.3d 1102, 1105, which stated that an SVP designation "is not punishment." People v. Beagle, No. 22CA594, ¶ 24 (Jan. 4, 2024). We granted certiorari to consider (1) whether the SVP designation constitutes criminal punishment under the Eighth Amendment, and (2) if so, whether it is cruel and unusual as applied to Beagle.[1]          ¶2 Because we determine that the General Assembly did not intend for the SVP designation to be punishment and the designation's punitive effects do not outweigh this nonpunitive intent by the "clearest proof," we hold that the SVP designation and its accompanying requirements do not constitute punishment 4 under the Eighth Amendment.[2] We thus affirm the judgment of the court of appeals.          I. Background          A. Facts and Procedural History          ¶3 In July 2019, Beagle, who was forty-nine years old, picked up two sixteen-year-old girls who had run away from a treatment facility and allowed them to stay in his home for ten days. During this time, Beagle provided the two girls with drugs, repeatedly made sexual advances towards them, and sexually assaulted one of them.          ¶4 Beagle pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault and distributing a controlled substance to a minor. An evaluator from the Sex Offender Management Board ("SOMB") conducted an assessment using the Sexually Violent Predator Assessment Screening Instrument ("SVPASI"), which suggested that Beagle met the criteria of an SVP. In particular, Beagle's Sex Offender Risk Scale ("SORS") score was 34.8, more than twelve points over the threshold to be classified as an SVP. Colo. Dep't of Pub. Safety, Div. of Crim. Just., 2023 SVPASI Handbook: Sexually Violent Predator Assessment Screening Instrument 10-15 (Oct. 2023), https:// cdpsdocs.state.co.us/ors/docs/Risks/SVPASIHandbook.pdf [https://perma.cc/ 5 5REY-K8AP] ("SVPASI Handbook"). The district court found that Beagle met the SVP criteria and designated him as an SVP. The court moreover found that the SVP designation "is not punishment" and instead that its "stated purpose is to protect the community." The district court sentenced Beagle to a total of fifteen years in the custody of the Department of Corrections. Beagle appealed the district court's order designating him as an SVP.          ¶5 A division of the court of appeals affirmed, finding that the SVP designation was not "punishment" under the Eighth Amendment. Beagle, ¶ 24. The division rejected Beagle's argument that Allen, ¶ 7, 307 P.3d at 1105—which stated that an SVP designation "is not punishment"—was abrogated by People in Interest of T.B., 2021 CO 59, ¶ 73, 489 P.3d 752, 772—which held that mandatory lifetime registration as applied to juvenile sex offenders was cruel and unusual punishment. Beagle, ¶ 24. While the