In re Crystal L.

2002 NMCA 063, 48 P.3d 87, 132 N.M. 349
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 17, 2002
DocketNo. 22,200
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 2002 NMCA 063 (In re Crystal L.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Crystal L., 2002 NMCA 063, 48 P.3d 87, 132 N.M. 349 (N.M. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

OPINION

KENNEDY, Judge.

{1} Crystal L. (Child) was accused of various delinquent acts in a petition filed in the children’s court. She demanded a jury, went to trial, and was found to be delinquent. Child now appeals the children’s court’s order declining her request for a consent decree after the jury’s verdict had been rendered, and finding that option to be unavailable to her as a matter of law. This is a matter of first impression in New Mexico. We hold that NMSA 1978 § 32A-2-22(A) (1995) does not allow the children’s court to enter a consent decree when the juvenile has already gone to trial and been adjudicated to be a delinquent. Child also argues that she should have been afforded a new trial because of prosecutorial misconduct, and because the court below allowed testimony offered by a neighbor concerning the nature of a restraining order between Child’s family and the neighbor’s. We hold that the children’s court did not abuse its discretion in addressing the prosecutor’s statements, and that in the absence of Child’s objection to the neighbor’s testimony there is no basis to address them. Consequently, we affirm the children’s court in all respects.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY AND BACKGROUND

{2} Child was arrested and charged with the delinquent acts of battery upon a peace officer and resisting arrest. A neighbor had complained that children had thrown rocks at her house. An officer was called to the scene. During her trial, Child defended her actions explaining that she was defending her cousin from being manhandled by the investigating police officer.

{3} At trial, Child objected to the prosecutor’s conduct twice. The first time was during voir dire when the prosecutor asked the jury if they were familiar with the television show “Cops” that occasionally shows patrolmen going out on otherwise routine calls that can change to become violent and dangerous. The prosecutor brought the case home to Rio Arriba County, mentioning a case where an officer had gone out on a prowler call and was shot in the head. This drew an objection from defense counsel that was sustained.

{4} In closing argument, the prosecutor commented on the court’s giving an instruction on resisting arrest as a lesser included offense of battery on a police officer indicating that the court’s ruling was confusing and possibly contrary to law. Child did not object.

{5} During the trial, the complaining neighbor was testifying about a mutual restraining order that Child’s family had initiated against the neighbor. Child objected to a leading question asked of the neighbor. She now objects to the neighbor’s testimony about the mutuality of the order as testimony about a “legal conclusion.”

{6} At the close of trial, the jury found Child guilty on both counts. Following trial, Child requested that the court enter a consent decree. This request was opposed by the State and denied by the children’s court who stated that it believed applicable law precluded the entry of a consent decree after the case has been adjudicated. Child timely filed her appeal.

DISCUSSION

Standard of Review

{7} The ability of the children’s court to enter a consent decree under applicable law is a legal question which is reviewed de novo. State v. Carlos A, 122 N.M. 241, 243, 923 P.2d 608, 610 (Ct.App.1996). The decision to do so is reviewed for abuse of the trial court’s discretion. See NMSA 1978, § 32A-2-22; In re Melissa G., 2001-NMCA-071, ¶ 25, 130 N.M. 781, 32 P.3d 790. Issues concerning the court’s regulation of attorney conduct during trial, and the admission of evidence are reviewed for abuse of discretion. State v. Allen, 2000-NMSC-002, ¶ 95, 128 N.M. 482, 994 P.2d 728; State v. Stanley, 2001-NMSC-037, ¶ 5, 131 N.M. 368, 37 P.3d 85.

Consent Decree

{8} Consent decrees exist as an alternative to adjudication of delinquency in the juvenile justice system. The existence of consent decrees as an adjudicative option in the children’s court is established by statute. NMSA 1978, § 32A-2-22(A) (1995) provides:

A. At any time after the filing of a delinquency petition and before the entry of a judgment, the court may, on motion of the children’s court attorney or that of counsel for the child, suspend the proceedings and continue the child under supervision in the child’s own home under terms and conditions negotiated with probation services and agreed to by all the parties affected. The court’s order continuing the child under supervision under this section shall be known as a “consent decree.”

{9} A consent decree is “an order of the court, after an admission has been made, that suspends the proceedings on the petition.” Rule 10-307(B) NMRA 2002; State v. Doe, 92 N.M. 354, 357, 588 P.2d 555, 558 (Ct.App.1978). The purpose for a consent decree is to allow a disposition of the case without resorting to the full procedure of the children’s court. See State v. Daniels, 78 N.M. 768, 769, 438 P.2d 512, 513 (1968) (“once the voluntary plea of guilty is entered by the defendant and accepted by the court, no reason exists to impanel a jury and by such a plea, the defendant sets himself before the trial judge for the final outcome. Such outcome simply is for judgment to be rendered and the sentence to be imposed.”).

{10} Accepting a consent decree agreement is entirely within the discretion of the court, see Section 32A-2-22(A) and (B), and can only be done if the child makes an admission of guilt. See Rule 10-224 NMRA 2002, Committee commentary (“The child must enter [either a plea of guilty or nolo contendere] in order to utilize the consent decree procedure.”). Doe, 92 N.M. at 357, 588 P.2d at 558 (holding that a child’s statement that he did not object to the entrance of a consent decree was sufficient to establish an admission under the Children’s Court Rules and thereby authorize a consent decree). In such a case, adjudication of the child’s delinquency would be unnecessary.

{11} In this case, Child made no such admission. Instead, Child demanded a jury and went to trial. There was no suspension of proceedings on the petition. Allowing a child to make an admission after a jury’s verdict finding the child’s commission of a delinquent act beyond a reasonable doubt is senseless. The result of the trial that Child requested was an adjudication of delinquency. Rule 10-230(A) NMRA 2002 states that “[i]f the child is found to have committed a delinquent act, a judgment to that effect shall be entered.” Such a finding by the jury limits the authority of the children’s court under Rule 10-230 to do nothing other than enter judgment on the verdict. After the court accepted the verdict, the determination of Child’s delinquency became conclusive and any tender of an admission would be “irrelevant and moot.” See Daye v. Commonwealth, 21 Va.App. 688, 467 S.E.2d 287, 289 (1996).

{12} Child now asks us to forget that she did not admit her delinquency, and impose upon the court a disposition which she spurned.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2002 NMCA 063, 48 P.3d 87, 132 N.M. 349, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-crystal-l-nmctapp-2002.