State v. Adonis

2008 NMSC 059, 194 P.3d 717, 145 N.M. 102, 2008 WL 4722570
CourtNew Mexico Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 30, 2008
Docket30,309
StatusPublished
Cited by37 cases

This text of 2008 NMSC 059 (State v. Adonis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Adonis, 2008 NMSC 059, 194 P.3d 717, 145 N.M. 102, 2008 WL 4722570 (N.M. 2008).

Opinions

OPINION

BOSSON, Justice.

{1} In this appeal we consider whether the district court properly ordered the criminal commitment of Leonard Denitri Adonis, Defendant, pursuant to NMSA 1978, Section 31-9-1.5 (1999). In so doing, we resolve two issues: (1) whether the procedure set forth in Section 31-9-1.5 is constitutionally permissible, and (2) whether the State presented adequate evidence to support its theory that Defendant committed first-degree murder. We conclude that Section 31-9-1.5 does not violate any constitutional guarantee and also conclude that the State failed to present sufficient evidence to support the district court’s ruling that Defendant committed a deliberate killing. We reverse the district court’s order and remand to that court with instructions to amend the commitment order consistent with a finding of second-degree murder. Defendant makes one further argument, which we do not reach, that the district court improperly ordered Defendant’s commitment for resisting, evading, or obstructing an officer, a crime not included in Section 31-9-1.5(A). On remand, the district court will enter a new commitment order, thus mooting Defendant’s final argument.

BACKGROUND

{2} At the time Defendant committed the crime at issue, he lived in apartment complex in Albuquerque. Defendant had, for some time, been suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. His symptoms included believing that he had been employed by the New Mexico State Police for more than twenty years, that the CIA and FBI were monitoring him, and that his father was the King of Spain. Despite his delusions, Defendant kept to himself and rarely bothered his neighbors.

{3} On April 18, 2004, Harold Hittson (Victim) decided to visit his brother, Ewell Hittson (Victim’s Brother), who was Defendant’s neighbor. Defendant did not own a car, and Victim regularly parked in Defendant’s parking space without incident. Other residents of the apartment complex, as well as the landlord, also parked in Defendant’s parking spot, again without complaint from Defendant. Upon arriving at the apartment complex, Victim once again parked his car in Defendant’s parking space, which was located only about ten feet from the front door of Defendant’s apartment.

{4} As Victim was getting out of his car, Defendant came out of his apartment and rapidly fired several shots at him with a handgun. Victim was hit twice and ultimately died from his wounds. When Victim’s Brother heard the shots, he left his apartment and saw Victim on the ground next to the front door of his car and also saw Defendant waving the handgun in the air. When Victim’s Brother asked Defendant why he had shot Victim, Defendant responded, “[T]hat will teach this guy a lesson not to park in my place no more.” Defendant was arrested on an open count of homicide and resisting, evading, or obstructing an officer.

{5} More than a year after his arrest, Defendant and the State stipulated that Defendant was dangerous and not competent to stand trial. Roughly one year after that stipulation, after it was determined that there was no substantial likelihood that Defendant would regain competency, the district court held a hearing pursuant to Section 31-9-1.5 to determine whether Defendant should be criminally committed. At the hearing, the State sought to secure Defendant’s commitment for first-degree murder.

{6} In support of its position, the State argued that Defendant deliberately intended to kill Victim for parking in his parking space and that “whoever was the next person to park in that space in front of [Defendant’s] apartment was going to get shot.” In response, Defendant argued that the State failed to introduce evidence that he had a deliberate intent to murder Victim. Because the State did not establish that he “weighed and considered” killing Victim or that he reflected upon his reasons for and against committing the act before he fired the shots, Defendant argued that he could not be committed for first-degree murder. See UJI14201 NMRA (“To constitute a deliberate killing, the slayer must weigh and consider the question of killing and his reasons for and against such a choice.”). Instead, argued Defendant, the maximum for which he could be committed was the period of time equivalent to a second-degree murder sentence.

{7} Ultimately, the district court ruled that the State had presented clear and convincing evidence that supported committing Defendant for first-degree murder. The district court then issued an order requiring Defendant’s commitment for thirty years to life. Defendant appealed to the Court of Appeals from that order, and the Court of Appeals granted the State’s motion to transfer the appeal to this Court. See State v. Smallwood, 2007-NMSC-005, ¶ 10, 141 N.M. 178, 152 P.3d 821 (“Since we are vested by law with exclusive appellate jurisdiction in cases involving a sentence of life imprisonment or death, it is clear to us that the legislature conferred this Court with jurisdiction over a criminal defendant’s interlocutory appeal in cases where a sentence of life imprisonment or death could be imposed.”); see also State v. Reed, 2005-NMSC-031, ¶ 16, 138 N.M. 365, 120 P.3d 447 (“First-degree murder is a capital felony, punished by life imprisonment or death, our most severe criminal penalty.”).

DISCUSSION

Constitutionality of Section 31-9-1.5

{8} Defendant first contends that the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 153 L.Ed.2d 556 (2002), requires us to conclude that Section 31-9-1.5 violates his constitutional right to a jury trial. According to Defendant, because the district court acts as the fact finder in Section 31-9-1.5 hearings, the procedure violates his constitutional right to present his case to a jury and to have the jury apply a standard of beyond a reasonable doubt. See Ring, 536 U.S. at 602, 122 S.Ct. 2428 (“If a State makes an increase in a defendant’s authorized punishment contingent on the finding of a fact, that fact — no matter how the State labels it — must be found by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.”).

{9} Our Court of Appeals specifically addressed the argument that Defendant now raises in State v. Spriggs-Gore, 2003-NMCA-046, 133 N.M. 479, 64 P.3d 506. The Court concluded that “[cjommitment pursuant to Section 31-9-1.5 is not punishment,” and therefore held that Ring was not controlling in Section 31-9-1.5 proceedings because such proceedings “are not analogous” to the proceedings at issue in Ring. Spriggs-Gore, 2003-NMCA-046, ¶ 22, 133 N.M. 479, 64 P.3d 506.

{10} In this case, Defendant makes no argument that explains why Spriggs-Gore is inapplicable to his case, nor does he provide us with any rationale in favor of second-guessing the Court of Appeals’ decision in that case. As such, we will not overrule Spriggs-Gore. See State v. Fry, 2006-NMSC-001, ¶ 41, 188 N.M. 700, 126 P.3d 516 (filed 2005) (stating that a “compelling reason” is required before this Court will overrule precedent). We conclude that Defendant’s constitutional argument fails.

Sufficiency of the Evidence

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2008 NMSC 059, 194 P.3d 717, 145 N.M. 102, 2008 WL 4722570, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-adonis-nm-2008.