State v. Marez

1 This memorandum opinion was not selected for publication in the New Mexico Reports. Please see 2 Rule 12-405 NMRA for restrictions on the citation of unpublished memorandum opinions. Please 3 also note that this electronic memorandum opinion may contain computer-generated errors or other 4 deviations from the official paper version filed by the Court of Appeals and does not include the 5 filing date. 6 IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO 7 STATE OF NEW MEXICO, 8 Plaintiff-Appellee, 9 v. No. 30,233 10 JOSEPH MAREZ, 11 Defendant-Appellant. 12 APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF CURRY COUNTY 13 Stephen K. Quinn, District Judge 14 Gary K. King, Attorney General 15 William Lazar, Assistant Attorney General 16 Santa Fe, NM 17 for Appellee 18 Jacqueline L. Cooper, Acting Chief Public Defender 19 Susan Roth, Assistant Appellate Defender 20 Santa Fe, NM 21 for Appellant 22 MEMORANDUM OPINION 23 SUTIN, Judge. 1 Defendant Joseph Marez appeals from the judgment and sentence, following 2 a jury trial, convicting him of driving while intoxicated (DWI) (.08 or above). [RP 3 106] Defendant contends that his confrontation rights were violated when the district 4 court allowed the supervisor of the person who actually conducted the blood test and 5 prepared the Scientific Laboratory Division (SLD) report to give his expert opinion 6 at trial as to the blood-alcohol test results (.29), rather than the person who actually 7 conducted the test and prepared the report. [DS 5-6] In a memorandum opinion 8 issued on August 18, 2010, this Court summarily affirmed Defendant’s conviction 9 based on our Supreme Court’s opinion in State v. Bullcoming, 2010-NMSC-007, ¶ 1, 10 147 N.M. 487, 226 P.3d 1, which applied Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, 557 U.S. 11 __, 129 S.Ct. 2527 (2009), in the DWI context. [MOP] 12 On October 18, 2010, our Supreme Court granted Defendant’s petition for writ 13 of certiorari and held this case in abeyance pending the United States Supreme Court’s 14 decision in Bullcoming v. New Mexico, 131 S. Ct. 2705, which was issued on June 23, 15 2011. In Bullcoming, the United States Supreme Court reversed the defendant’s 16 conviction and remanded the case. Id. at 2713. On July 21, 2011, our Supreme Court 17 issued an order remanding this case to this Court for further proceedings in light of 18 Bullcoming. [Ct. App. File] Accordingly, this Court’s memorandum opinion issued 19 on August 18, 2010, was withdrawn. 2 1 In accordance with the Supreme Court’s opinion in Bullcoming, this Court’s 2 second calendar notice proposed to hold that the district court’s admission of the SLD 3 test report, without the testimony of the person who conducted the test and prepared 4 the results, violated Defendant’s confrontation rights. [CN2] The State has filed a 5 response, stating that it does not contest the second calendar notice and that it concurs 6 in the proposed reversal and remand. [Ct. App. File] 7 For the reasons set forth in the second calendar notice, we reverse Defendant’s 8 conviction and remand to the district court for further proceedings. 9 IT IS SO ORDERED. 10 __________________________________ 11 JONATHAN B. SUTIN, Judge 12 WE CONCUR: 13 _________________________________ 14 JAMES J. WECHSLER, Judge 15 _________________________________ 16 TIMOTHY L. GARCIA, Judge 17 3