Peo v. Montoya

── Peo v. Montoya ── Court: Colorado Court of Appeals Date: May 28, 2026 Category: General 23CA1932 Peo v Montoya 05-28-2026 COLORADO COURT OF APPEALS Court of Appeals No. 23CA1932 Adams County District Court No. 21CR341 Honorable Patrick H. Pugh, Judge The People of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. James Paul Montoya, Defendant-Appellant. JUDGMENT AFFIRMED Division VII Opinion by JUDGE SULLIVAN Pawar and Meirink, JJ., concur NOT PUBLISHED PURSUANT TO C.A.R. 35(e) Announced May 28, 2026 Philip J. Weiser, Attorney General, Melissa D. Allen, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Denver, Colorado, for Plaintiff-Appellee Mallika L. Magner, Alternate Defense Counsel, Crested Butte, Colorado, for Defendant-Appellant ¶1 Defendant, James Paul Montoya, appeals the judgment of conviction entered on a jury verdict finding him guilty of second degree kidnapping, first degree assault, three counts of second degree assault, two counts of first degree burglary, and two counts of stalking. We affirm. I. Background ¶2 The following facts are supported by evidence introduced at trial. ¶3 Montoya and the victim were in a long-term relationship and lived together with their two daughters. But in August 2020, a court issued a protection order that, among other things, required Montoya to vacate the victim’s house and prohibited him from contacting the victim or visiting locations she frequented. In response, Montoya moved in with his mother while the victim continued living at her house with their daughters. ¶4 The court later modified the protection order to allow Montoya to contact his daughters if authorized by the victim, but it still prohibited Montoya from visiting the locations the victim frequented. Nonetheless, communication between Montoya and the victim became more frequent, and eventually the victim allowed 1  Montoya to visit the house. They spoke about reconciling and resumed a sexual relationship. ¶5 Montoya then started accusing the victim of cheating, and by January 2021 things became tense between the two. At that time, Montoya wasn’t living with the victim but visited her at her house on weekends. ¶6 On February 4, 2021, the victim returned home after dropping her daughters off at school. Montoya approached her from around the side of the house. After going inside together, Montoya told the victim that he knew she was cheating. He started asking questions, became increasingly agitated, and eventually put the victim in a headlock. He slammed the victim’s head into the tile floor and then cut her laptop’s charging cord with a box cutter, using it to tie her wrists together. When the victim asked Montoya why he was doing this, he told her that she had taken his manhood away. ¶7 Montoya then took the victim to the basement and bound her legs, ankles, and wrists with rope. He put duct tape over her mouth and asked her questions, ripping the tape off to allow her to answer. This continued for about five hours. 2 ¶8 During this time, Montoya also cut the victim’s toes, pushed a box cutter into her leg, sliced off her clothing, burned her cheek with a lighter, and burned her feet by creating a blowtorch with a lighter and an aerosol can. He threatened her with death and continued torture. At one point, the victim admitted to having an affair. ¶9 Montoya eventually released the victim and fled the scene before police arrived. ¶ 10 After the February 4 incident, the victim and her daughters went into hiding. The three started staying at a safe location while the victim’s brother started staying at her house. The victim and her brother eventually developed a routine in which the brother would pick the