State v. Fleming

2006 NMCA 149, 149 P.3d 113, 140 N.M. 797, 2006 WL 3726154
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 30, 2006
Docket25,853
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 2006 NMCA 149 (State v. Fleming) 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. Fleming, 2006 NMCA 149, 149 P.3d 113, 140 N.M. 797, 2006 WL 3726154 (N.M. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

OPINION

WECHSLER, Judge.

{1} Defendant Janice Fleming was convicted of four counts of failure to disclose material facts or a change of circumstances to obtain public assistance in violation of NMSA 1978, § 30-40-1 (1987) (amended 2006). There was evidence at trial that Defendant failed to disclose to the City of Alamogordo Housing Authority business income Defendant received during the five years she lived in public housing, as required by the Housing Authority. We hold, in the context of Defendant’s convictions, that Section 30-40-1 is not unconstitutionally vague and that the term “public assistance” as used within Section 30-40-1 includes Defendant’s public housing benefits. We affirm the convictions.

{2} Section 30-40-1 provides:

A. Failing to disclose facts or change of circumstances to obtain public assistance consists of any person knowingly failing to disclose any material facts known to be necessary to determine eligibility for public assistance or knowingly failing to disclose a change in circumstances for the purpose of obtaining or continuing to receive public assistance to which he is not entitled or in amounts greater than that to which he is entitled.
B. Whoever commits failing to disclose facts or change of circumstances to obtain public assistance when the value of the assistance wrongfully received is one hundred dollars ($100) or less in any twelve consecutive months is guilty of a petty misdemeanor.
C. Whoever commits failing to disclose facts or change of circumstances to obtain public assistance when the value of the assistance wrongfully received is more than one hundred dollars ($100) but not more than two hundred fifty dollars ($250) in any twelve consecutive months is guilty of a misdemeanor.
D. Whoever commits failing to disclose facts or change of circumstances to obtain public assistance when the value of the assistance wrongfully received is more than two hundred fifty dollars ($250) but not more than two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) in any twelve consecutive months is guilty of a fourth degree felony.
E. Whoever commits failing to disclose facts or change of circumstances to obtain public assistance when the value of the assistance wrongfully received is more than two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,'500) but not more than twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) is guilty of a third degree felony.
F. Whoever commits failing to disclose facts or change of circumstances to obtain public assistance when the value of the assistance wrongfully received exceeds twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) is guilty of a second degree felony.

{3} A criminal statute violates the due process requirements of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article II, Section 18 of the New Mexico Constitution if it does not fairly warn of its proscriptions. See State v. Segotta, 100 N.M. 498, 499-500, 672 P.2d 1129, 1130-31 (1983). A statute may not forbid actions “in terms so vague that men of common intelligence must guess at its meaning and [must] differ as to its application.” Id. at 499, 672 P.2d at 1130. In analyzing a statute, we presume the statute to be constitutional and we will afford a statute a constitutional construction if it is reasonably supported by the statutory language. Id. at 500, 672 P.2d at 1131. We conduct our analysis as a mixed question of law and fact, affording deference to findings of fact made in the district court and determining the law applicable to such facts under de novo review. State v. Duran, 1998-NMCA-153, ¶ 31, 126 N.M. 60, 966 P.2d 768; see also State v. Attaway, 117 N.M. 141, 144-45, 870 P.2d 103, 106-07 (1994) (describing the standard of review for mixed questions of fact and law), modified on other grounds, State v. Lopez, 2005-NMSC-018, ¶¶ 17-20, 138 N.M. 9, 116 P.3d 80.

{4} Defendant asserts that Section 30^40-1 is unconstitutionally void for vagueness because of its penalty provisions. According to Defendant, the statute is faulty because it allows multiple acts of failing to disclose to be separate crimes in Subsection A, while Subsections B through F total the amounts wrongfully received to reach the penalty. Indeed, there is prosecutorial discretion built into the statute. Subsections B, C, and D determine the penalty for failing to disclose by adding the amount of public assistance received “in any twelve consecutive months.” Section 30-40-l(B), (C), (D). However, Subsection E does not have a time limitation and arguably allows a prosecutor the discretion to aggregate the amount of assistance wrongfully received over an indeterminate time in order to exceed $2500 and charge a third degree felony. 1 Section 30-40-l(E).

{5} But the mere room in a statute for the exercise of charging discretion on the part of a prosecutor does not render the statute void for vagueness. See State v. Brooks, 117 N.M. 751, 755, 877 P.2d 557, 561 (1994); State v. Altgilbers, 109 N.M. 453, 466-67, 786 P.2d 680, 693-94 (Ct.App.1989). As long as a statute provides notice of the conduct that it makes criminal, a prosecutor may have the discretion to decide the manner in which to charge the criminal acts. Altgilbers, 109 N.M. at 467, 786 P.2d at 694. Thus, in Brooks, our Supreme Court determined that in charging acts of embezzlement, the state has the discretion to charge “separate counts alone” or to “aggregate the takings” and charge the higher-degree felony, or to charge in some other combination of the acts. Brooks, 117 N.M. at 755, 877 P.2d at 561; see also Altgilbers, 109 N.M. at 466, 786 P.2d at 693 (“[W]e see no reason why the choice for the prosecution must be between either one count in toto or one count for each act.”). We do not perceive a problem "with the notice given by Section 30-40-1 in this case. Although the State had some discretion in charging a third degree felony under Subsection E, the statute clearly states the criminal conduct proscribed, and Defendant does not argue otherwise.

{6} Instead, Defendant relies on State v. Ferris, 80 N.M. 663, 459 P.2d 462 (Ct.App.1969), to contend that there is a constitutional deficiency in Section 30 — 40-1. Ferris involved the statute then prohibiting issuing worthless checks that provided punishments tied to either the amount of a single cheek or the total amount of checks issued. Ferris, 80 N.M. at 665, 459 P.2d at 464 (quoting statute establishing punishment “[w]hen the amount of the check ..., or the total amount of the cheeks ..., are for more than ... but less than ...”). This Court held that the totaling provisions of the statute were unconstitutionally vague because they were uncertain as to whether multiple acts were separate offenses or could be combined for prosecution. Id.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2006 NMCA 149, 149 P.3d 113, 140 N.M. 797, 2006 WL 3726154, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-fleming-nmctapp-2006.