State v. Casares

2014 NMCA 024, 5 N.M. 455
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 2, 2014
DocketNo. 34,440; Docket No. 31,808
StatusPublished

This text of 2014 NMCA 024 (State v. Casares) 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. Casares, 2014 NMCA 024, 5 N.M. 455 (N.M. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

OPINION

VIGIL, Judge.

{1} Defendant appeals from two orders of the district court denying his motions to suppress. First, Defendant contends that all evidence seized from his home pursuant to a search warrant must be suppressed because the warrant failed to sufficiently specify the items to be searched in that two of the items are described as “fingerprints” and “photography of the . . . evidence.” Secondly, Defendant asserts that incriminatory statements made by him in a custodial interrogation must be suppressed because he is hearing impaired and was not informed that he was entitled to a sign language interpreter as required by federal law. In the circumstances of this case, we reject both arguments and affirm the district court.

I.BACKGROUND

{2} Detective Timothy Argo of the Artesia Police Department was informed that in the early morning hours of August 17, 2010, a shooting occurred outside Victim’s residence. Victim had moved into the residence to live with her friend after experiencing physical and verbal abuse from Defendant, who is her infant son’s father. Victim continued to have trouble with Defendant and argued with him regarding their son over the course of several telephone conversations the night before and in the early morning hours of the shooting. Around 3:00 a.m., just before the shooting, Defendant asked Victim to bring their son to his house. When she refused, he told her he was coming over, and she heard him say, “Where’s my gun, where’s my gun?” Knowing that this meant she and her son were in danger, she gathered the child and took him to the back of the house for protection. A short time later, she heard a vehicle that sounded like Defendant’s truck pull up and stop in front of the residence, followed by two gunshots. Defendant then called Victim several times, but she refused to answer. About a half hour after the shooting, Victim accepted Defendant’s phone call, and he asked if she heard anything. When she responded that she had, he asked her, “[H]ow many?” She told him “[T]wo.”

{3} Detective Argo checked Victim’s call log and confirmed nine missed and fifteen incoming phone calls from Defendant the evening before and the morning of the shooting. He also recovered a bullet from a vehicle parked in front of Victim’s residence.

{4} Based on this evidence, Detective Argo obtained a search warrant to search Defendant’s residence. The warrant authorized officers to search the residence for the following nine items:

1. Firearms to include but not limited to handguns.
2. Firearm accessories to include but not limited to magazines, clips, holsters, boxes and owner’s manuals.
3. Ammunition
4. Spent casings
5. Projectiles
6. Any item that would identify the occupant(s) of the residence to include but not limited to Driver’s license, identification cards, credit cards, etc. •
7. Fingerprints
8. Cellular telephone . . .
9. Photography of the residence and evidence.

Police seized one black “semi-auto” pistol with magazine and four rounds of ammo, three rounds of live “ammo,” and one Nokia flip phone with charger from Defendant’s home pursuant to the warrant. They also took photographs of the home and the evidence that was seized. Importantly, no fingerprints were seized, nor were photographs taken of any evidence not listed in the warrant.

{5} Following the search of Defendant’s home, Detective Argo arrested him and took him to the police station for a custodial interrogation. Detective Argo read Defendant his Miranda rights. See Miranda v. Ariz., 384 U.S. 436 (1966). For reasons unclear in the record, Detective Argo asked Defendant if he had a problem hearing. When Defendant informed the detective that he is hearing impaired, Detective Argo asked Defendant to read his Miranda rights aloud. Defendant read the Miranda warning out loud, signed a waiver of his rights, and proceeded to make several incriminating statements, including that he was not “that stupid to shoot at the house,” and only shot the vehicle in the driveway. Following the interrogation, Defendant was charged with willfully discharging a firearm at or from a motor vehicle in violation ofNMSA 1978, Section 30-3-8(B) (1993).

{6} Defendant filed two motions to suppress evidence. In the first motion, Defendant asserted that the search warrant failed to satisfy the particularity requirement of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and therefore all of the evidence seized from his residence should be suppressed. In the second motion, Defendant argued that the Miranda warning he received prior to waiving his rights was legally insufficient because he was not informed of his right to an interpreter as a hearing-impaired individual.

{7} The district court denied both motions to suppress, concluding that the search warrant satisfied the requirements of the Fourth Amendment and that Detective Argo had complied with Miranda. Defendant subsequently conditionally pled no contest, reserving his right to appeal the suppression issues.

II. DISCUSSION

{8} On appeal from a district court ruling on a motion to suppress, findings of fact are reviewed to determine if they are supported by substantial evidence and legal conclusions are reviewed de novo. State v. Leyba, 1997-NMCA-023, ¶ 8, 123 N.M. 159, 935 P.2d 1171.

A. Validity of the Search Warrant

{9} Defendant argues that the warrant is overly broad because two of the nine items authorized in the warrant — “fingerprints” and “photography of the . . . evidence” — fail to satisfy the particularity requirement of the Fourth Amendment. Specifically, he asserts that there is not sufficient language to limit the places to be searched for fingerprints or items to be photographed as evidence and that this lack of particularity permitted officers to rummage through all of his belongings. See U.S. Const, amend. IV (requiring that search warrants describe the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized with particularity); State v. Jones, 1988-NMCA-058, ¶ 5, 107 N.M. 503, 760 P.2d 796 (explaining that the particularity requirement “is aimed at preventing ‘general, exploratory rummaging in a person’s belongings’” (quoting Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 467 (1971))). As aresult, he argues that he was entitled to a blanket suppression of all the evidence seized from his home pursuant to the warrant.

{10} Even if Defendant is correct that “fingerprints” and “photography of the . . . evidence” lack the particularity required by the Fourth Amendment, he is not entitled to blanket suppression of all the evidence seized from his home pursuant to the warrant. In State v. Gurule, 2011-NMCA-063, 150 N.M.

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Related

Malloy v. Hogan
378 U.S. 1 (Supreme Court, 1964)
Miranda v. Arizona
384 U.S. 436 (Supreme Court, 1966)
Coolidge v. New Hampshire
403 U.S. 443 (Supreme Court, 1971)
United States v. Thao Dinh Le
173 F.3d 1258 (Tenth Circuit, 1999)
State v. Gurule
2011 NMCA 63 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2011)
State v. Gurule
2013 NMSC 025 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 2013)
State v. Jones
760 P.2d 796 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 1988)
State v. Patscheck
6 P.3d 498 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2000)
State v. Leyba
1997 NMCA 023 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 1997)
State v. Jacobs
10 P.3d 127 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 2000)
People v. Gaylord
210 A.D.2d 980 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1994)

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Bluebook (online)
2014 NMCA 024, 5 N.M. 455, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-casares-nmctapp-2014.