State v. Martinez

This memorandum opinion was not selected for publication in the New Mexico Appellate Reports. Please see Rule 12-405 NMRA for restrictions on the citation of unpublished memorandum opinions. Please also note that this electronic memorandum opinion may contain computer-generated errors or other deviations from the official paper version filed by the Court of Appeals and does not include the filing date. 1 IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO 2 STATE OF NEW MEXICO, 3 Plaintiff-Appellee, 4 v. NO. 30,637 5 ANTONIO MARTINEZ, 6 Defendant-Appellant. 7 APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF CHAVEZ COUNTY 8 Steven L. Bell, District Judge 9 Gary K. King, Attorney General 10 Santa Fe, NM 11 Francine A. Baca-Chavez, Assistant Attorney General 12 Albuquerque, NM 13 for Appellee 14 Liane E. Kerr 15 Albuquerque, NM 16 for Appellant 17 MEMORANDUM OPINION 1 CASTILLO, Chief Judge. 2 In August 2010, Martinez appealed to this Court, arguing that his right to be 3 free from double jeopardy was violated when he was convicted of both attempted 4 second degree murder and shooting at a motor vehicle. [DS 3] In November 2010, 5 this Court issued a memorandum opinion affirming Martinez’s convictions based on 6 State v. Mireles, 2004-NMCA-100, ¶¶ 29-30, 136 N.M. 337, 98 P.3d 727, and State 7 v. Gonzales, 113 N.M. 221, 225, 824 P.2d 1023, 1027 (1992). [Ct. App. File] 8 Martinez petitioned the New Mexico Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari, and the 9 writ was granted in January 2011. [Ct. App. File] In July 2012, our Supreme Court 10 quashed the writ of certiorari and remanded the case to this Court for further 11 consideration in light of State v. Swick, 2012-NMSC-018, 279 P.3d 747. [Ct. App. 12 File] On remand, we issued a notice of proposed summary disposition proposing to 13 reverse. The State has responded with a memorandum in opposition that we have duly 14 considered. Because we are not persuaded by the State’s memorandum, we reverse. 15 In our notice of proposed summary disposition, we proposed to conclude that 16 Martinez’s conduct was unitary. Accordingly, we proposed to apply State v. 17 Gutierrez, 2011-NMSC-024, ¶ 58, 150 N.M. 232, 258 P.3d 1024, which altered the 18 analysis to be employed in determining whether the Legislature intended to permit 19 separate punishments for unitary conduct. Under Gutierrez, although a court should 2 1 still look at the elements of the offenses to see if each statute contains an element that 2 the other does not, this is not the end of the inquiry for determining whether one 3 offense is subsumed by the other. Id. ¶¶ 55-56. When a statute is “vague and 4 unspecific,” id. ¶ 59 (internal quotation marks omitted), a court must determine 5 whether an offense subsumes another by considering the State’s legal theory of the 6 crimes, id. ¶ 58. If an offense subsumes another, the statutes are the same for double 7 jeopardy purposes and the defendant cannot be convicted of both. Id. ¶ 56. Swick 8 held that attempted murder is “vague and unspecific” for purposes of a double 9 jeopardy analysis since many forms of conduct can support the element of beginning 10 to do an act that constitutes a substantial part of murder. 2012-NMSC-018, ¶ 25. 11 Applying Gutierrez and Swick, we proposed to hold that Martinez’s convictions 12 for both attempted murder and shooting at a motor vehicle violated double jeopardy. 13 Martinez fired a single shot at the victim in his car, and this shot constituted the 14 underlying conduct supporting both the charge of shooting at a motor vehicle and the 15 charge of attempted murder. Accordingly, we proposed to conclude that the conduct 16 underlying the charges was unitary and that the elements of attempted murder 17 subsumed the elements of shooting at a motor vehicle. 18 In the State’s memorandum in opposition, it concedes that Martinez’s conduct 19 was unitary. [MIO 7] It also acknowledges that Swick mandates that we apply 3 1 Gutierrez’s modified test for determining legislative intent in this case. [MIO 8-9] 2 Nevertheless, rather than simply applying Gutierrez and Swick to determine whether, 3 under the State’s theory of the case, the offense of shooting at a motor vehicle is 4 subsumed by the offense of attempted murder, the State asks this Court to engage in 5 the analysis and then to go further to look at other indicia of legislative intent. As the 6 State’s proposed analysis is contrary to Gutierrez and Swick, we decline to apply it. 7 Under Gutierrez and Swick, the fact that one offense was subsumed within the other 8 under the State’s theory of the case renders conviction of both a double jeopardy 9 violation. 10 Accordingly, for the reasons stated in this opinion and in our notice of proposed 11 summary disposition, we reverse. We remand to permit Martinez to withdraw his 12 plea, or, if the State agrees, for the district court to vacate his sentence for shooting at 13 a motor vehicle. See State v. Handa, 120 N.M. 38, 46, 897 P.2d 225, 233 (Ct. App. 14 1995) (holding that when a defendant has been convicted pursuant to a plea agreement 15 of a crime in violation of his double jeopardy rights, he is permitted to withdraw his 16 plea, unless, in the state’s discretion, it agrees to vacate the improper conviction). 17 IT IS SO ORDERED. 18 __________________________________ 19 CELIA FOY CASTILLO, Chief Judge 4 1 WE CONCUR: 2 __________________________________ 3 MICHAEL E. VIGIL, Judge 4 __________________________________ 5 TIMOTHY L. GARCIA, Judge 5