Justia Criminal Law Opinion Summaries

A jury found Defendant Alejandro Ramirez guilty of shooting and killing Johnny Vialpando. Ramirez was convicted of several offenses, including first-degree murder, and the district court sentenced Ramirez to life imprisonment plus an additional sixty-five and one-half years. Ramirez appeals directly to the New Mexico Supreme Court, arguing: (1) there was insufficient evidence presented to support his convictions; (2) his right to due process was violated when the district court permitted several eyewitnesses to identify him in court as the shooter; and (3) his convictions violated the double-jeopardy guarantee against multiple punishments. With respect to the murder conviction, the Supreme Court held that the evidence was sufficient to support the convictions, the district court did not violate Ramirez’s right to due process by allowing the in-court identifications, and double jeopardy precluded the district court from convicting Ramirez of first-degree murder and shooting at a motor vehicle. The Court vacated Ramirez's shooting-at-a-motor-vehicle conviction and remanded for resentencing. View "New Mexico v. Ramirez" on Justia Law

This case concerned the inventory search exception to the warrant requirement. Wesley Davis was arrested for operating a motorcycle without a license. Davis was carrying a backpack; during the stop, an Eddy County sheriff deputy searched the backpack and found marijuana. Davis was charged with one count of distribution of marijuana. He moved to suppress the marijuana, arguing the search was unlawful because Davis did not possess the backpack "on his person or in his physical possession." The New Mexico Supreme Court disagreed that possession in the inventory search context should have been so narrowly construed, and concluded Davis possessed the backpack at the time of his arrest. Therefore the inventory search was valid. The Court of Appeals judgment holding to the contrary was reversed. View "New Mexico v. Davis" on Justia Law

Defendant John Ochoa appealed his convictions relating to criminal sexual contact of a minor, and the Court of Appeals reversed on speedy trial grounds. Defendant was arrested in 2008. Prior to a mistrial in 2010, trial was delayed for a number of reasons including a furlough affecting the New Mexico Public Defender Department. Defendant was incarcerated for the entire pretrial period. The Court of Appeals determined defendant was prejudiced by his two-year pretrial incarceration. The New Mexico Supreme Court concluded that neither the length of delay, the reason for delay, nor the assertion of the right to a speedy trial weighed heavily in defendant’s favor: “We presume that Defendant suffered some prejudice as a result of his continuous pretrial incarceration, but our presumption does not outweigh the other three factors. Thus, despite the obvious prejudice to Defendant, his right to a speedy trial was not violated.” View "New Mexico v. Ochoa" on Justia Law

In the early morning April 23, 2011, the Bernalillo County Sheriff Department was conducting a DWI checkpoint in Albuquerque. Defendant Laressa Vargas was pulled over as part of the checkpoint. The Deputy at the checkpoint immediately noticed the odor of alcohol emanating from both Vargas’s person and her vehicle. The Deputy asked Vargas if she had been drinking, to which she answered that she had not. The Deputy requested that Vargas submit to field sobriety tests (FSTs), and Vargas agreed. Vargas performed poorly on the FSTs. At that point, the Deputy believed that Vargas was intoxicated and could not safely operate a vehicle, so he placed her under arrest. Defendant Vargas consented to and submitted to two breath tests, but refused to consent to a blood test. The arresting deputy did not obtain a warrant for a blood test, nor could he do so under New Mexico law, because he did not have probable cause to believe that Vargas had committed a felony or caused death or great bodily injury to another person while driving a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance. Vargas was convicted of violating NMSA 1978, Section 66-8-102(D)(3) (2010, amended 2016) because she refused to submit to a blood test; she received a sentence of ninety days in jail, with credit for seventy-five days for time served. In Birchfield v. North Dakota, 136 S. Ct. 9 2160 (2016), the United States Supreme Court held that a person who is arrested for DWI may be punished for refusing to submit to a breath test under an implied consent law, but may not be punished for refusing to consent to or submit to a blood test under an implied consent law unless the officer either (a) obtains a warrant, or (b) proves probable cause to require the blood test in addition to exigent circumstances. The Birchfield opinion had not been decided when the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court entered its judgment convicting Vargas; however, Birchfield was published while Vargas’s appeal was pending before the New Mexico Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals applied Birchfield and reversed Vargas’s conviction for aggravated DWI. The New Mexico Supreme Court concluded the Court of Appeals correctly applied Birchfield to the pending appeal. View "New Mexico v. Vargas" on Justia Law

A jury convicted defendant Benjamin David Baroz III of felony murder based on the predicate felony of shooting at or from a motor vehicle, two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and possession of drug paraphernalia. The conviction of shooting at or from a motor vehicle was vacated on double jeopardy grounds. Defendant argued on appeal of those convictions that he was entitled to a new trial because: (1) shooting at or from a motor vehicle cannot serve as a predicate felony for felony murder; (2) the evidence was insufficient to support a conviction of second-degree murder; (3) the district court erred in denying his request for a jury instruction on self-defense; (4) the one-year firearm enhancements on his sentences for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon violated double jeopardy; and (5) the State should not have been allowed to impeach his trial testimony with a statement obtained in violation of his Miranda rights. After review, the New Mexico Supreme Court vacated Defendant’s felony murder conviction and ordered that a conviction of second-degree murder be entered instead. The Court affirmed the district court’s holdings that: (1) Defendant was not entitled to a self-defense instruction; (2) the imposition of a one-year firearm enhancement on an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon conviction did not violate double jeopardy; and (3) the statements Defendant made after invoking his right to remain silent were voluntary and could be used for impeachment. View "New Mexico v. Baroz" on Justia Law

Defendant Jesus Castro was charged with two counts of criminal sexual penetration. Defendant had two trials: the first resulted in a mistrial, and after the second, a jury convicted him of one count of forced penile penetration. The time between the trials was thirty-two months. The delay was due to multiple continuances, attorney motions to withdraw, the mistrial, and fifteen months during which the case was stagnant. Despite the delay in setting his retrial, neither Defendant nor his attorney, Jonathan Huerta, asserted Defendant’s right to a speedy trial before his conviction. Four and one-half months after Defendant’s conviction, his new attorney filed a post- trial motion to dismiss with the district court based on speedy trial grounds. The motion alleged that Defendant failed to assert his right earlier due to ineffective assistance of counsel. The district court denied Defendant’s motion to dismiss. On appeal, the Court of Appeals remanded the case back to the district court, instructing it to hold an evidentiary hearing to determine whether there was ineffective assistance of counsel, particularly regarding Huerta’s failure to assert Defendant’s right to a speedy trial. If the district court found that Huerta’s assistance was constitutionally ineffective, the Court of Appeals instructed it to reassess whether Defendant’s right to a speedy trial had been violated. The State filed a petition for writ of certiorari with New Mexico Supreme Court to determine whether “the mere failure to file a demand for a speedy trial establish[es] a prima facie case of ineffective assistance of counsel.” The Court held Defendant’s right to a speedy trial was not violated and Defendant did not make a prima facie showing of ineffective assistance of counsel because Huerta may have strategically withheld a demand for a speedy trial if it would benefit Defendant’s case. Accordingly, the Court reversed the Court of Appeals without prejudice to a habeas corpus petition, which Defendant could bring to resolve whether Huerta provided ineffective assistance of counsel for failing to assert Defendant’s speedy trial right, in addition to any other allegations of ineffective assistance of counsel. View "New Mexico v. Castro" on Justia Law

Defendant Carlos Carrillo appealed his convictions for the murders of Christopher Kinney and Lyndsey Frost, tampering with evidence, and breaking and entering. Defendant argued: (1) the district court erred in allowing lay witnesses to testify to cell phone-related evidence with respect to the murder convictions, which, in Defendant’s view, required a qualified expert; (2) there was insufficient evidence to support Defendant’s convictions of murder, tampering with evidence, and breaking and entering; (3) the State committed prosecutorial misconduct when it repeatedly attempted to admit statements that the district court had ruled inadmissible prior to trial; and (4) cumulative error renders the guilty verdict unreliable. While the New Mexico Supreme Court agreed with Defendant with respect to the first issue, in part, the Court found that it was harmless error. The Court affirmed in all other respects. View "New Mexico v. Carrillo" on Justia Law

The New Mexico Supreme Court concluded that the minor children of a parent whom they allege was wrongfully shot and killed by a law enforcement officer could: (1) sue for loss of consortium damages under the New Mexico Tort Claims Act (TCA); and (2) bring their lawsuit even if the parent’s estate did not sue for wrongful death damages. The Court held Section 41-4-12 of the TCA waived a law enforcement officer’s sovereign immunity from liability for personal injury and bodily injury damages resulting from battery, and loss of consortium damages may be characterized as either personal or bodily injury damages. Second, loss of consortium damages result from the wrongful injury or death of someone who was in a sufficiently close relationship to the loss of consortium claimant, and such damages belong to the loss of consortium claimant and not to the injured person or the decedent’s estate. View "Thompson v. City of Albuquerque" on Justia Law

The New Mexico Supreme Court addressed the circumstances under which detectives may question a juvenile defendant in the absence of and without notification of a court-appointed attorney or court-appointed guardian ad litem. Then-fifteen-year-old defendant Juan Rivas’ convictions arose from his killing of eighty-three-year-old Clara Alvarez as she slept in her bed. Evidence presented at trial included two statements Defendant had made to detectives. Based on the evidence presented, a jury convicted Defendant of first-degree murder, aggravated burglary, tampering with evidence, and unlawful taking of a motor vehicle. Defendant was then sentenced to life imprisonment. Defendant appealed. Finding no reversible error as to the admission of either statement, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "New Mexico v. Rivas" on Justia Law

This case addressed the procedure for determining whether a jury was deadlocked. In this case, the jury announced that it was hung on Count 1, which required it to consider whether Defendant Clive Phillips was guilty of first-degree premeditated murder, second-degree murder, or voluntary manslaughter. The district court polled the jurors. During the poll, seven jurors stated that the jury had unanimously agreed Phillips was not guilty of first-degree murder, but five jurors indicated the jury was unable to reach a verdict on that crime. The only verdict form given to the jury that exclusively referred to first-degree murder was the guilty verdict form, so there was no written record of whether the jury had acquitted Phillips of that crime or deadlocked during deliberations. The district court determined that the jury was hung on first-degree murder. The New Mexico Supreme Court held the trial judge failed to clearly establish on the record whether the jury deadlocked on first-degree murder, and therefore Phillips could only be retried on the lowest offense in Count 1, voluntary manslaughter. The Supreme Court reversed the district court and remanded to dismiss the first- and second-degree murder charges with prejudice. View "New Mexico v. Phillips" on Justia Law