State v. Andazola

2003 NMCA 146, 82 P.3d 77, 134 N.M. 710
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 22, 2003
Docket23,158
StatusPublished
Cited by75 cases

This text of 2003 NMCA 146 (State v. Andazola) 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
State v. Andazola, 2003 NMCA 146, 82 P.3d 77, 134 N.M. 710 (N.M. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

OPINION

WECHSLER, Chief Judge.

{1} Defendant Ismael Andazola pleaded no contest to two counts of kidnapping in the second degree contrary to NMSA 1978, § 30-4-l(B) (1995); two counts of criminal sexual penetration in the second degree contrary to NMSA 1978, § 30-9-ll(D) (2001); and one count of aggravated battery in the third degree with a firearm contrary to NMSA 1978, § 30-3-5(C) (1969) and NMSA 1978, § 31-18-16 (1993). On appeal, Defendant argues that the district court erred in imposing consecutive sentences for the kidnapping and criminal sexual penetration, asserting that the sentences violated his right to be free of double jeopardy. Defendant also claims that he was denied due process because he was not informed about the provisions of the Earned Meritorious Deductions Act before entering his plea. NMSA 1978, § 33-2-34 (1999) (the EMDA). We affirm.

Background

{2} Because the charges were resolved by a plea agreement, we have the factual background in the record proper, including the affidavit to the criminal complaint and the sworn depositions of the victims, as well as the transcript of the hearings in this case. Both parties have indicated in their briefs that they relied on the same sources for the relevant facts.

{3} On the evening of December 23, 2000, the two seventeen-year-old female victims were riding around Roswell, New Mexico, when they encountered Defendant, who one of the victims knew from high school. They followed Defendant in their car to a liquor store where he and his companions bought beer. The victims then went to Defendant’s house for a party, but after approximately an hour, they became uncomfortable and decided to leave. Defendant and his relative asked if they could go with the victims, and the four of them drove around Roswell with the two victims in the front seat and Defendant in the back with his relative. After about twenty minutes, Defendant showed the victims a chrome handgun and slid back the top part of the gun to show the victim who was driving that the gun was loaded. After ordering them to stop the car and telling one victim to move to the back seat and the other to the front passenger seat, Defendant began to drive the car. At that point, his relative stated that he “did not want to be a part of this,” and Defendant drove him back to Defendant’s house. Defendant then drove the two victims out of town to a remote location, where he ordered them out of the car and told them to undress. They got out of the car but refused to undress. Defendant then fired a shot into the air and again told them to undress. When they refused a second time, he ordered them back into the car. Defendant told them they were going to die and he fired another shot in the car. After this threat, the two victims undressed. With Defendant sitting in the middle of the back seat and a victim sitting on either side, he ordered each of them at gunpoint to take turns straddling him. He raped each of them three to five times and also forced each victim to perform fellatio.

{4} After Defendant ejaculated into one of the victims, he ordered both victims to get out of the car. When they were standing outside the car, Defendant shot one of them in the head from a close distance. She fell to the ground unconscious. Defendant then ordered the other victim to get dressed and get back into the car. He told her that he was taking her to Albuquerque and drove back into town for gas. While the car was stopped at a red light, the victim saw two police cars parked at a convenience store. The victim ran from the car to the officers and told them that Defendant had shot her friend. She identified Defendant by name. The victim was then taken to the hospital where a sexual assault exam was conducted and sperm was collected from her vaginal area.

{5} The second victim did not die from the gun shot to the head. When she regained consciousness, she walked to the nearest house. She knocked on the door, but the resident was afraid to answer the door because the young woman who stood before her was naked and had a great deal of blood on her face. Instead, the resident called her son who came to the house and then called 911. At the hospital, the victim told police officers that a man named “Ismael” had shot her. Because the victim’s head injury was life threatening, she was flown to Albuquerque for emergency surgery.

Plea Hearing

{6} Defendant pleaded no contest to the charges at a hearing on February 15, 2002. In the plea agreement, there had been no agreement as to sentencing. During the plea hearing, the district court explained to Defendant the constitutional rights he was waiving by pleading. The court also detailed the charges and the potential sentences. In response to the court’s questions, Defendant responded that he understood the plea and stated that there was a factual basis for the charges in the plea agreement. The court additionally reviewed the range of punishment Defendant was facing for each of the charges, and Defendant stated that he understood that he was facing a possible sentence of one to forty years. At the conclusion of the colloquy, the district court concluded that Defendant’s plea was a knowing, voluntary, and intelligent one. The court then set a date for sentencing and also ordered a presentence report to be prepared for use at sentencing.

Sentencing Hearing

{7} At the sentencing hearing, the prosecutor described the facts underlying the charges in the plea agreement and asked the district court to impose the forty-year maximum sentence permitted under the plea agreement. He also stated that the victims were too frightened of Defendant to attend the hearing but that each of them had written letters for the sentencing which the prosecutor read to the court. Defendant addressed the court and apologized for what he had done to the victims, acknowledged that he had committed serious crimes, and took responsibility for his actions.

{8} Defendant argued, on double jeopardy grounds, that the sentences for kidnapping and criminal sexual penetration should merge and run concurrently. The prosecutor countered that double jeopardy was not implicated because the crimes committed against each of the victims had been separate. The district court found that the sentences did not merge based on the criminal complaint and affidavit. The court then observed that the presentence report from the probation and parole office recommended that the full sentence be imposed upon Defendant without any suspension of sentence.

{9} At the conclusion of the hearing, the district court imposed the following sentence: nine years for each charge of kidnapping and criminal sexual penetration and three years for the aggravated battery with a one-year firearm enhancement, for a total of forty years imprisonment to be followed by a two-year period of parole. All sentences were to run consecutively. The court also advised Defendant that he must register as a sex offender. See NMSA 1978, § 29-llA-4(B) (2000).

{10} Defendant subsequently filed two motions with the district court. One protested the inclusion of language in the judgment and sentence identifying the crimes he had committed as serious violent offenses under the EMDA. Defendant contended that he had not agreed to a penalty or enhancement of his sentence under the EMDA in the plea and disposition agreement.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2003 NMCA 146, 82 P.3d 77, 134 N.M. 710, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-andazola-nmctapp-2003.