State v. Dominguez

2014 NMCA 064, 6 N.M. 196
New Mexico Court of Appeals·Decided May 30, 2014·No. No. 34,600; Docket No. 31,975 & 32,546·Published·Cited by 48 cases

Opinion

OPINION

FRY, Judge.

{1} In this case, both Defendant and the State appeal following Defendant’s convictions for kidnapping and second-degree criminal sexual penetration (CSP II). Defendant argues that his convictions for kidnapping and CSP II violate double jeopardy, that the State presented insufficient evidence for either conviction, and that the prosecutor committed prosecutorial misconduct. Conversely, the State argues that the district court erred when it modified Defendant’s conviction for first-degree kidnapping to second-degree kidnapping because the jury was not given a special verdict form asking them to find whether Defendant committed a sexual offense against Victim. Finding none of Defendant’s contentions meritorious, we affirm his convictions. However, we conclude that the district court erred in modifying Defendant’s conviction and remand to reinstate Defendant’s conviction for first-degree kidnapping.

BACKGROUND

{2} Victim was home alone asleep with her young daughter when she was awoken by the sound of knocking and noticed a man outside her bedroom window. Victim went to the front door to see who was there and was confronted by Defendant, who asked whether her father-in-law or her husband were home. After Victim told him that neither was home, Defendant asked if she had a gas can he could borrow because he had run out of gas. Defendant waited at the front door while Victim went to look for the gas can. When Victim told Defendant that she did not have one, Defendant then asked if he could use her restroom. Victim testified that although she did not know Defendant, she allowed him into the home because she thought Defendant knew her father-in-law.

{3} Defendant entered Victim’s home and went to the bathroom. When Defendant emerged from the bathroom, he pulled a gun from the pocket of his hooded sweatshirt. Defendant put the gun to Victim’s head and told her he planned to rape her. Defendant further threatened to kill Victim’s daughter if she did not comply. Defendant, however, agreed to Victim’s requests that he wear a condom and not rape her in the living room because it was adjacent to the room where her daughter was sleeping. While holding the gun to Victim’s head, Defendant then followed Victim to the kitchen, where she retrieved a condom, and to a second bedroom, where he vaginally raped Victim.

DISCUSSION

{4} We begin our analysis with Defendant’s contention that his convictions for kidnapping and CSP II violate double jeopardy. Due to the similarity between Defendant’s double j eop ardy argument and his argument that there is insufficient evidence to support his kidnapping conviction, our resolution of Defendant’s double jeopardy argument is largely determinative of his insufficiency of the evidence argument. Indeed, in the context of combined kidnapping and sexual offense convictions, these two areas of law have generated considerable analytical overlap in our case law. See, e.g., State v. Allen, 2000-NMSC-002, ¶¶ 62, 67, 128 N.M. 482, 994 P.2d 728 (incorporating double jeopardy principles into analysis of whether there was sufficient evidence to convict the defendant of kidnapping where the defendant argued that the force used in the kidnapping was the same force used in the attempted CSP). We therefore consider these contentions together.

I. Double Jeopardy and the Independent Factual Basis to Support Defendant’s Conviction for Kidnapping

A. Double Jeopardy

{5} The State charged Defendant with CSP II on the basis of his use of a gun during the CSP. See NMSA 1978, § 30-9-11(E)(6) (2009) (stating that CSP II includes CSP perpetrated “when the perpetrator is armed with a deadly weapon”). The State also charged Defendant with kidnapping, and the jury was instructed that the elements of kidnapping were Defendant’s taking, restraint, confinement, or transportation of Victim “by force, intimidation],] or deception” and Defendant’s intending to “hold [Victim] against [her] will to inflict a sexual offense on [her].” Because CSP II by definition includes “some force or restraint,” State v. Crain, 1997-NMCA-101, ¶ 21, 124 N.M. 84, 946 P.2d 1095, Defendant argues that the force or restraint associated with the CSP II is the same force or restraint associated with kidnapping. Thus, he contends that his right to be free from double jeopardy was violated when he was sentenced for both crimes.

{6} “The Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution prohibits double jeopardy and is made applicable to New Mexico by the Fourteenth Amendment.” State v. Swick, 2012-NMSC-018, ¶ 10, 279 P.3d 747. This is a constitutional question of law that we review de novo. Id.

{7} The double jeopardy clause provides three separate constitutional protections. It provides protection from (1) “a second prosecution for the same offense after acquittal],]” (2) “a second prosecution for the same offense after conviction[,]” and (3) “multiple punishments for the same offense.” State v. Montoya, 2011-NMCA-074, ¶ 29, 150 N.M. 415, 259 P.3d 820 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). Within the multiple punishment context — which is the analysis we are concerned with in this case — there are two types of cases: (1) “unit-of-prosecution” cases, where the defendant has been convicted of multiple violations of the same statute; and (2) “double-description” cases, where the defendant has been convicted of violations of multiple statutes for the same conduct. Swick, 2012-NMSC-018, ¶ 10. Because Defendant argues that his convictions arise from the same conduct but under different statutes, this is a double-description case. We analyze double-description cases under the two-part test set forth in Swafford v. State, 1991-NMSC-043, 112 N.M. 3, 810 P.2d 1223. Under Swafford, we first consider whether the conduct underlying the two convictions was unitary. Only if we conclude that the conduct was unitary do we then consider whether the Legislature intended to punish the two crimes separately. Swick, 2012-NMSC-018, ¶ 11.

{8} “Conduct is not unitary if sufficient indicia of distinctness separate the transaction into several acts.” Montoya, 2011-NMCA-074, ¶ 31 (internal quotation marks omitted). “Distinctness” can be established by “looking to the quality and nature of the acts, the objects and results involved, and the defendant’s mens rea and goals during each act.” State v. Saiz, 2008-NMSC-048, ¶ 30, 144 N.M. 663, 191 P.3d 521, abrogated on other grounds by State v. Belanger, 2009-NMSC-025, 146 N.M. 357, 210 P.3d 783.

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State v. Dominguez, 2014 NMCA 064, 6 N.M. 196 (N.M. Ct. App. 2014).

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