State v. Fielder

2005 NMCA 108, 118 P.3d 752, 138 N.M. 244
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 22, 2005
DocketNo. 24,190
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 2005 NMCA 108 (State v. Fielder) 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. Fielder, 2005 NMCA 108, 118 P.3d 752, 138 N.M. 244 (N.M. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

OPINION

PICKARD, Judge.

{1} Defendant appeals his convictions of third degree criminal sexual penetration (CSP III), aggravated battery, and false imprisonment. He does not challenge a fourth conviction of larceny. His briefs raised the following three double jeopardy issues: (1) that his conviction at a second trial of CSP III, after he was tried for CSP II at a first trial that resulted in neither a verdict nor any inquiry into the degree of CSP on which the jury was hung, compels a discharge on all levels of CSP; (2) that his conviction of false imprisonment as well as CSP, which necessarily involves the confinement of a victim, compels a discharge on the false imprisonment count; and (3) that the prosecutor’s conduct in the first trial during jury deliberations, in obtaining instruction on CSP III and in subsequent supplemental closing argument, was sufficiently egregious conduct to require a discharge on all counts under State v. Breit, 1996-NMSC-067, 122 N.M. 655, 930 P.2d 792.

{2} We agree with Defendant that his double jeopardy rights were violated by the State’s prosecution of Defendant at the second trial for CSP II because there was no manifest necessity for a mistrial on that charge during the first trial. However, the remedy for the violation is a retrial on that count with the highest exposure being to CSP III. Further, we hold that the prosecutor’s conduct did not rise to a level compelling a dismissal under Breit. Therefore, there is no double jeopardy bar to further trials. However, we believe that the double jeopardy error of submitting CSP II to the jury during the second trial tainted all of the convictions resulting from that trial, and therefore the proper remedy is to reverse the three convictions and remand for a third trial. Finally, we hold that false imprisonment, while a lesser included offense of CSP II, is not a lesser included offense of CSP III because the crimes have different elements.

FACTS AND BACKGROUND

{3} Victim made a 911 call to the police department and reported that she had just been raped inside her home. Victim stated that she had been unable to see the perpetrator’s face throughout the incident. Furthermore, she reported that the perpetrator was armed with a knife during the incident. When the police arrived to interview Victim, Victim realized that her television and VCR were missing from her living room. After the police searched the area, the police noticed a trail of footprints leading from Victim’s house to Defendant’s house. After receiving consent to enter Defendant’s home, the police found a VCR and television with serial numbers that matched those that they had received from Victim. Defendant was arrested for theft of Victim’s property.

{4} Subsequently, Defendant admitted that he had had sexual intercourse with Victim on the night in question, although Defendant stated that the intercourse was consensual. Furthermore, Defendant stated that Victim had agreed to lend him her television and VCR. Further investigation by the police led them to discover clothes in Defendant’s home that matched those described by Victim as the type worn by the perpetrator. However, even after conducting a thorough search of the area, the police were unable to locate the knife Victim had described as being used by the perpetrator. Although the knife was not found, Defendant was eventually indicted for criminal sexual penetration of Victim while armed with a deadly weapon (CSP II).

{5} Defendant was charged with four counts: Count 1 charged aggravated burglary, Count 2 charged CSP II, Count 3 charged false imprisonment, and Count 4 charged larceny. At the first trial, after the State and Defendant had presented their cases, the four counts were submitted to a jury and, after several hours of deliberation, the jury sent a written question to the court. Specifically, the jury’s question dealt with Count 2, which charged Defendant with CSP II. The jury asked the following question:

“If we think there was not a knife, must we acquit on Count 2, item two?”

The court, after discussing the jury’s question with both parties, responded to the inquiry by directing the jury to “please read instruction No. 7 in its entirety.” Instruction 7 was the elements instruction for CSP II, and item two of it required the jury to find that Defendant was armed with and used a deadly weapon.

{6} Shortly thereafter, the State moved the court to supplement the jury instructions by adding an instruction for criminal sexual penetration without the use of a deadly weapon, CSP III, as a lesser included offense of Count 2. After hearing arguments from both the State and Defendant, the court granted the State’s request to allow CSP III as a lesser included offense of Count 2 over Defendant’s strong objection. While the court allowed the jury to continue deliberating on the other counts, the court asked the jury not to deliberate any further on Count 2 until receiving further instructions from the court. Defendant then requested that the court allow both parties to briefly provide additional closing arguments to the jury concerning the charge of CSP III. The court granted Defendant’s request. The jury was then called back into the courtroom, where the court instructed the jury on the charge of CSP III. The court then informed the jurors that, as to Count 2, they were to first consider the charge of CSP II and, if they had a reasonable doubt as to that charge, they were to begin deliberating the CSP III charge.

{7} Upon completion of the court’s oral instructions to the jury, the court allowed both the State and Defendant to make closing arguments concerning the supplemental jury instructions. In its supplemental closing argument, the State made the following statement:

We looked at your questions and tried to define what you were thinking in the jury room, and we came up with two possible answers. Clearly, you were concerned about the element that said Defendant was armed and used a deadly weapon, and the Defendant used a knife. We don’t think you had a problem with the rest of it, which talks about what the definition of a deadly weapon is. One possibility we thought of was that you were concerned about what [“]used a knife[”] meant. Another possible concern we thought you had was what happens if you don’t think there was any knife at all.

Defendant did not object to this argument.

{8} After closing arguments, the jury deliberations reconvened. Shortly afterwards, the jury foreperson informed the court that the jury had reached a verdict on the count of larceny, but that it was unable to reach a decision on the other counts. The jury was then called in. The foreperson of the jury announced that as to the charge of larceny, the jury had found Defendant guilty. After both parties declined the court’s offer to poll the jury as to the larceny charge, the following dialogue occurred between the court and the jury foreperson:

THE COURT: Very well.
The Court having inspected the verdict forms as to Counts 1, 2 and 3, and taken the information from the jury that they cannot reach a decision, the Court then declares a mistrial as to Counts 1, 2 and 3.
Ms.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Cruz
New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2024
State v. Paul
2021 NMCA 041 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2020)
State v. Martinez
New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2018
State v. Lewis
New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2017
State v. Griffin
New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2011
State v. Milligan
New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2010
State v. P Sipes
New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2009
State v. Cortez
2007 NMCA 054 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2007)
State v. McClaugherty
2007 NMCA 041 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2007)
State v. Armendariz
2006 NMCA 152 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2006)
State v. Gomez
2006 NMCA 132 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2006)
State v. Fielder
118 P.3d 752 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2005)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2005 NMCA 108, 118 P.3d 752, 138 N.M. 244, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-fielder-nmctapp-2005.