Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday overturned one of a man’s convictions for an attempted child sex offense in El Paso County after concluding two of his crimes involved the same conduct, punished differently.

Colorado courts have interpreted the constitutional guarantee of equal protection to forbid the state from creating two laws that criminalize identical conduct, but impose a harsher consequence for one. A three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals determined Javier Vega Dominguez’s dual convictions for attempt to patronize a prostituted child and attempted inducement of child prostitution violated that prohibition.

In the panel’s reading of the case, both of Vega Dominguez’s convictions relied upon his attempt to pay a 15-year-old boy for sexual acts. In reality, Vega Dominguez’s offers by text message were part of an undercover police operation, with an officer pretending to be the boy.

Although attempted patronizing and attempted inducement are the same class of felony, attempted patronizing carries a much harsher penalty — an indefinite prison sentence of up to life behind bars.

At the time of Vega Dominguez’s trial, the Court of Appeals had already warned of a constitutional violation for defendants convicted of both patronizing and certain other child sex offenses, including inducement. In 2019, Judge Jerry N. Jones suggested the General Assembly revise “the language of the child prostitution offenses generally” to prevent further problems.

However, the appellate panel reviewing Vega Dominguez’s case concluded the same problem existed with his convictions: he was serving up to life in prison for one offense and only four years for the other, despite the underlying crime being identical.

“We therefore conclude that Vega Dominguez’s conviction for attempted patronizing a prostituted child violates his right to equal protection,” wrote Judge Ted C. Tow III in the April 4 opinion.

The panel vacated Vega Dominguez’s patronizing conviction and corresponding sentence of up to life in prison. He still remains convicted of attempted inducement and other related offenses.

The case is People v. Vega Dominguez.