State v. Dinapoli

2015 NMCA 66
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 27, 2015
Docket33,004
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 2015 NMCA 66 (State v. Dinapoli) 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. Dinapoli, 2015 NMCA 66 (N.M. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document New Mexico Compilation Commission, Santa Fe, NM '00'04- 11:51:59 2015.06.30

Certiorari Denied, June 3, 2015, No. 35,272

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO

Opinion Number: 2015-NMCA-066

Filing Date: April 27, 2015

Docket No. 33,004

STATE OF NEW MEXICO,

Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.

ROBERT DINAPOLI,

Defendant-Appellant.

APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF BERNALILLO COUNTY Angela J. Jewell, District Judge Pro Tempore

Hector H. Balderas, Attorney General Paula E. Ganz, Assistant Attorney General Santa Fe, NM

for Appellee

Jorge A. Alvarado, Chief Public Defender Kimberly Chavez Cook, Assistant Appellate Defender Santa Fe, NM

for Appellant

OPINION

WECHSLER, Judge.

{1} Defendant Robert Dinapoli, having previously been convicted of criminal sexual penetration, signed a Sex Offender Supervision Behavioral Contract (the sex offender contract) in which he agreed that he would not possess “any sexually oriented or sexually stimulating material.” The district court revoked Defendant’s probation because Defendant was found to be in possession of three R-rated, theatrically released movies. Defendant argues that he did not have sufficient notice that his possession of such movies would violate the terms of his probation and that the district court erred by revoking his probation without reviewing the movies in their entirety in order to assess the nature of the movies as a whole. We hold that Defendant had sufficient notice as a result of both the sex offender contract and the circumstances of a previous probation violation. We further hold that the district court had sufficient evidence before it without reviewing the movies in their entirety. We therefore affirm the revocation of Defendant’s probation. We nevertheless correct the district court’s order and commitment to credit Defendant for days of probation he already served.

BACKGROUND

{2} On December 4, 1992, Defendant was indicted for numerous crimes of criminal sexual penetration taking place on June 25, 1990 after he had broken into the home of two women while armed with a firearm. In 1994, Defendant pleaded guilty to four counts of criminal sexual penetration, two counts of kidnapping, and one count of aggravated battery. All the crimes involved the use of a deadly weapon. On January 30, 1992, Defendant was also indicted for attempted criminal sexual penetration, kidnapping, and false imprisonment, among other crimes, involving another woman in an incident that took place on October 3, 1991.

{3} Defendant was sentenced for the 1991 crimes after a plea and disposition agreement to serve 364 days in custody followed by five years probation. For the 1990 crimes, he was sentenced to serve thirty years imprisonment followed by five years probation. He was additionally ordered to participate in both inpatient and outpatient treatment and sex offender counseling.

{4} Defendant was released from imprisonment on October 21, 2008 to the Sex Offender Unit at the New Mexico Behavioral Health Institute in Las Vegas, New Mexico. Two days later, Defendant was terminated from the program. Defendant’s probation officer at that time reported that Defendant “informed staff members that treatment was of no value to him and [that he] wished to be returned to prison where he did not have to put up with anyone asking questions about his past behavior.” The probation officer reported that Defendant told him “I don’t belong out here, I raped two women and I need to go back to prison. I have food and shelter over there and [j]ust can’t make it out here, I need to go back to prison.” The district court revoked Defendant’s probation and re-committed him to serve a term of six years imprisonment to be followed by five years probation.

{5} After his subsequent release from prison, the district court allowed Defendant to live at his mother’s house because he suffers from a degenerative neurological disorder. Defendant signed the sex offender contract on December 2, 2011. Rosalind Hankins, Defendant’s probation officer, reported that Defendant violated the conditions of his probation and was arrested on February 29, 2012, charging that Defendant (1) did not comply with Section 6(D) of the sex offender contract that prohibited Defendant from accessing electronic devices for sexually stimulating material, pornography, adult websites, and social networking sites; and (2) did not attend the Sex Offender Treatment Program because he was asked to leave for being disruptive (the February violation). As to the first charge, Ms. Hankins reported that Defendant stated that the websites depicted rape victims and rapists and that he “wanted to learn more about what kind of rapist he was.” The State filed a motion to revoke probation, and the district court held a probation violation hearing on April 5, 2012. The district court reinstated Defendant’s probation with the additional condition that Defendant not access the internet with his cell phone.

{6} On July 30, 2012, Ms. Hankins and another probation officer visited Defendant’s residence on a routine probation call. While there, Ms. Hankins found three DVDs in Defendant’s bedroom that she characterized in her probation violation report attached to the State’s motion to revoke Defendant’s probation as “extremely violent and sexually graphic in nature, and portray women being raped.” The State again filed a motion to revoke probation. After a probation violation hearing held on September 19, 2012 (September hearing), the district court found that Defendant violated his probation by possessing sexually explicit materials in violation of Section 6(A) of the sex offender contract. The district court revoked Defendant’s probation and committed Defendant to the Department of Corrections for a term of five years to be followed by supervised probation for a new term of five years.

NOTICE

{7} Defendant first argues that the district court improperly revoked his probation because he did not have sufficient notice that his possession of the movies would violate the terms of his probation. Specifically, Defendant contends that neither the sex offender contract nor the February violation provided him notice that his possession of “popular, mainstream, R-rated movies” would be a violation of the terms of his probation. Notice is an issue to the extent it bears upon whether it was reasonable for Defendant to have believed that he was not violating the terms of his probation. See State v. Martinez, 1989-NMCA-036, ¶ 4, 108 N.M. 604, 775 P.2d 1321 (“The proof necessary [to support the revocation of probation] is that which inclines a reasonable and impartial mind to the belief that a defendant has violated the terms of probation.”).

{8} We review the district court’s revocation of probation under an abuse of discretion standard. Id. ¶ 5. In exercising its discretion, the court may consider that the purpose of probation is the rehabilitation of a defendant. State v. Lopez, 2007-NMSC-011, ¶ 7, 141 N.M. 293, 154 P.3d 668. A court has the authority to revoke probation for a probation violation because rehabilitation is not occurring. Id. ¶ 8.

Evidence Before the District Court

{9} The DVDs consisted of three movies: (1) I Spit On Your Grave (2010); (2) The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2009, Swedish); and (3) The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011, American). At the probation revocation hearing, the State played “about twelve scenes” from I Spit On Your Grave for the court.

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2015 NMCA 66, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-dinapoli-nmctapp-2015.