State v. Garcia

659 P.2d 918, 99 N.M. 466
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 3, 1983
Docket5899
StatusPublished
Cited by50 cases

This text of 659 P.2d 918 (State v. Garcia) 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. Garcia, 659 P.2d 918, 99 N.M. 466 (N.M. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

OPINION

DONNELLY, Judge.

Convicted of three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor contrary to § 30-6-3, N.M.S.A.1978, following the entry of a plea of “no contest,” defendant appeals.

Defendant raises four issues on appeal: (1) claim of ineffective assistance of trial counsel; (2) claim of invalidity of his plea agreement because of undue influence, coercion and duress; (3) claim of abuse of discretion in denying withdrawal of the plea bargain; and (4) claim of lack of jurisdiction in the trial court to impose a final judgment and sentence. We dismiss defendant’s appeal herein, since it is neither an appeal from a final order, nor a proper interlocutory appeal.

The facts underlying this appeal are somewhat complex and unusual in their nature. Defendant was originally charged with the commission of thirty-four felony counts.

On October 23, 1981, three days prior to the date the case was scheduled for trial by jury, defendant appeared before the trial court and entered into a plea and disposition agreement whereby he agreed to plead guilty to three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, as alleged in Counts 4, 12 and 18 of the grand jury indictment. The State agreed to dismiss all of the remaining charges. Under the terms of the written plea agreement approved by the court, no disposition as to sentencing was agreed upon.

On October 26, 1981, defendant filed a written motion to set aside the plea and disposition agreement alleging that at the time that he entered into such agreement he was ill with the flu and that, when he agreed to the plea bargain, he was denied effective assistance of counsel. Following a hearing, the trial court denied defendant’s motion and found defendant was properly represented by counsel. Prior to imposing any final judgment or sentence, the trial court entered an order filed November 2, 1981, permitting defendant an interlocutory appeal from the court’s order denying his motion, pursuant to § 39-3-3(A)(3), N.M.S. A.1978. Following review by this court, an order was entered on November 16, 1981, denying permission to perfect the interlocutory appeal on the issue of the trial court’s refusal to allow the withdrawal of defendant’s pleas and remanding the case for further proceedings.

Thereafter, on January 20,1982, the trial court entered an order stating in part:

ORDER DEFERRING IMPOSITION OF SENTENCE

[T]hat the defendant shall undergo a psychiatric evaluation at the Forensic Unit of the New Mexico State Hospital and shall remain at the New Mexico State Hospital for as long as is needed to conduct said evaluation and that sentence in the above numbered cause be, and it hereby is, deferred until such time as that evaluation is completed and thereafter, the defendant shall be returned to the court for sentencing.
The defendant is advised by the court that he has a right to appeal the judgment and disposition of this court; * * * that if any appeal is to be taken, it must be filed within ten days of the date of the filing of this order deferring imposition of sentence.

Defendant on January 22, 1982, filed a notice of appeal from the court’s order dated January 20,1982. On February 27,1982, the Court of Appeals, by memorandum opinion, dismissed defendant’s second appeal on the grounds that the trial court was proceeding under § 31-20-3(C), N.M.S.A. 1978 (1981 Repl.Pamp.), in ordering a presentence diagnostic evaluation, that the “order appealed from deferred the imposition of sentence until certain psychiatric evaluations were completed,” and that the case was “not final for purposes of appeal until a sentence is imposed.” State v. Morris, 69 N.M. 89, 364 P.2d 348 (1961).

On April 23, 1982, defendant was transported to the Forensic Unit at the New Mexico State Hospital to undergo forensic evaluation pursuant to an order of the trial court which set out in applicable part: “that the order deferring imposition of sentence entered January 20, 1982, shall stand and that defendant David Garcia shall be taken into custody ... and transported to the Forensic Unit of the New Mexico State Hospital no later than Friday, April 23, 1982.” On July 12, 1982, the diagnostic evaluation was completed and defendant was returned to Dona Ana County to await final sentencing.

On July 30, 1982, the court entered an order directing that defendant undergo a second commitment at the Forensic Unit of the New Mexico State Hospital. The order entered by the court provided:

ORDER DEFERRING IMPOSITION OF SENTENCE
This matter having come before the court for sentencing on July 23, 1982, and the defendant having previously been adjudged guilty of three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor contrary to Section 30-6-3, N.M.S.A.1978, * * * and the court having reviewed the report of the psychiatric evaluation prepared by the Forensic Unit of the New Mexico State Hospital and being sufficiently advised in the premises, finds that sentence should be deferred.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED * * * that defendant be * * * transported to the New Mexico State Forensic Hospital * * * for an indeterminate period of treatment and upon the said hospital’s determination that defendant’s release is necessary, that he be brought back before this court for sentencing.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED * * * that defendant shall present himself to the Dona Ana County Jail by 7:00 p.m. on August 2, 1982, the night before the defendant is to be transported. [Emphasis provided.]

Defendant filed his third appeal herein on August 2,1982, directed to the court’s order of July 30,1982. Defendant, after filing his notice of appeal, did not report as specified in the order for treatment at the New Mexico State Hospital. The trial court issued a bench warrant for defendant’s arrest on September 14,1982, and defendant was taken into custody and held at the Dona Ana County Jail.

On September 24, 1982, prior to the time that defendant’s pending appeal had been perfected, the trial court held a sentencing hearing and entered a judgment which provided in applicable part as follows:

IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that the defendant’s plea of nolo contendere to three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, contrary to Section 30-6-3, N.M.S.A.1978, be, and it hereby is, accepted by the court and the defendant is hereby adjudged guilty of the aforesaid charge.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED pursuant to a sentencing hearing duly held to determine if mitigating or aggravating circumstances exist to warrant the alteration of the statutory basic sentence that there are neither mitigating nor aggravating circumstances which warrant the alteration of the statutory basic sentence.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
659 P.2d 918, 99 N.M. 466, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-garcia-nmctapp-1983.