Colorado’s second-highest court clarified last month that defendants who have their parole revoked do not need to appeal the decision within the Colorado State Board of Parole, and may instead seek judicial review directly.

By 2-1, a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals ruled for the first time that judges may hear challenges to parole revocations without the defendant needing to go through a parole board appeal. 

The majority noted the process for returning someone to incarceration for violating the conditions of their parole first entails a hearing by one parole board member. After that portion concludes, the defendant “may appeal” the decision to two other members of the parole board.

However, wrote Judge Matthew D. Grove for himself and Judge Terry Fox, state law does not say that is the only path a defendant can take, as parolees may also seek relief from the courts for alleged “unlawful revocation of parole.”

“Viewing the statutory scheme as a whole, we conclude that an administrative appeal of a parole revocation to the Appellate Body is not a prerequisite to judicial review of the decision,” wrote Grove in the Oct. 31 opinion. He added it “may well be true” that a parole board appeal would be a better first step, but it was one the law does not seemingly require.

Judge Grant T. Sullivan dissented, worrying the ability of defendants to “leapfrog” a parole board appeal would result in negative consequences.

“For example, allowing parolees to bypass the appellate body’s review will deprive the Board of its ability to correct errors committed by the single Board member who presided over the initial revocation hearing, potentially leading to even more protracted litigation that could have been avoided,” he wrote.

Sullivan added that the requirement in other contexts for a person to go through an executive agency’s internal grievance process before filing suit is intended to promote efficiency, allow subject matter experts to weigh in first and conserve judicial resources.

He clarified a parolee is not required to appeal the revocation decision by a single parole board member. But if they do not do so, in his view, “the parolee must abide by the consequences of their decision, including relinquishing their ability to seek judicial review.”

The case is People v. Abdul-Rahman.