The state’s Court of Appeals has determined there was sufficient evidence for a jury to convict a Colorado Springs man of burglary after he followed a woman into her motel room because she called him the N-word.

Jurors heard two different versions of what happened at the Sun Springs Motel in March 2018. The victim claimed she saw Bobby Jermaine Porter punching his girlfriend and the victim alerted the hotel manager while her son called 911. As the victim walked back to her room, Porter called her “this white bitch” and approached her to scream in her face.

The victim then called Porter the N-word at least once.

After Porter chest-bumped the victim, she retreated toward her motel room. Porter followed her and hit her forehead with his palm. There was a brief struggle between the victim, her adult son and Porter, in which Porter stepped inside her room.

Porter, on the other hand, testified that he was arguing with his girlfriend when he saw the victim lurking outside his room. After the victim pointed her cell phone into Porter’s room as if to record what was happening, he walked out to ask the victim to respect his privacy. She responded with the N-word and pushed him.

As the victim retreated to her room, Porter followed. But the victim’s son stopped Porter and indicated he would handle his mother. Porter returned to his room and denied entering the victim’s room.

The jury also heard from police officers, who testified that after Porter’s arrest he admitted he entered the victim’s room because “she called him the N-word and he wasn’t going to take that from any cracker.” One officer said that while Porter was in the back of the patrol car, Porter reportedly said he was “going to get out, and he was going to hurt the lady.”

It was undisputed that the victim called Porter a “f—–g (N-word),” possibly more than once.

At Porter’s first trial, jurors convicted him of harassment and disorderly conduct, but could not reach a verdict on several other charges. One month later, a second jury convicted him of second-degree burglary, while acquitting him of third-degree assault. Under state law, second-degree burglary involves unlawfully entering or remaining in a building with the intent to commit another crime.

On appeal, Porter contended that the government had failed to prove he entered the victim’s room with an intent to assault her. But a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals disagreed.

“(T)he fact that the jury acquitted Porter of committing third degree assault did not foreclose the jury’s finding that he intended to commit that crime when he briefly entered (the victim’s) motel room,” wrote Judge Anthony J. Navarro.

The case is People v. Porter.