162 (1969)). These “objective indications” often are found in the “legislature’s judgment about the offense’s severity,” whether in the legislature’s explicit designation of an offense as serious or petty or in “the maximum penalty attached to the offense....” Lewis, 518 U.S. at 326, 116 S.Ct. 2163. In Colorado, the General Assembly has designated a category of criminal actions as “petty offenses” that are separate from misdemeanors and felonies and carry a maximum fine of $500. See § 18-1.3-503, C.R.S. (2006). We have held that the legislature’s categorization of “petty offenses” is an objective indication that the legislature generally considers misdemeanors and felonies to be “serious” offenses that must be tried to a jury. See Christie v. People, 837 P.2d 1237, 1241 (Colo.1992) (<HOLDING>); Austin, 170 Colo. at 456, 462 P.2d at 604
holding that article 3707 section 3 of the code of criminal procedure requires the trial court to give a defendant opportunity to present evidence regarding punishment after it has found the particular defendant guilty and before punishment is assessed holding that civil settlements have no bearing on decisions of criminal punishment and imposition of a restitution order is a form of punishment and part of a criminal sentence holding that a criminal offense carrying a maximum punishment in excess of 500 requires trial to a jury holding that trial courts failure to give reasonabledoubt instruction sua sponte during punishment phase for extraneous offenses offered during punishment was harmless error in part because the jury assessed punishment far below maximum available despite states plea for maximum holding omission in the jury instruction of element of offense requires a new trial