State v. Haynes

6 P.3d 1026, 129 N.M. 304
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 15, 2000
Docket19,659
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 6 P.3d 1026 (State v. Haynes) 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. Haynes, 6 P.3d 1026, 129 N.M. 304 (N.M. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

OPINION

SUTIN, Judge.

{1} Defendant Ladell Haynes appeals his conviction of distribution of cocaine. On appeal, he argues: (1) that double jeopardy barred his retrial after a mistrial caused by the prosecutor and that trial counsel was ineffective in failing to move for dismissal; (2) that the booking photo of him admitted into evidence to bolster the undercover agent’s identification of him as the person who sold the agent cocaine was irrelevant and highly prejudicial and its admission constituted reversible error; (3) that the trial court erred in refusing to give his tendered instruction on eyewitness identification; and (4) that his conviction should be reversed because he was not given notice that he was a target of a grand jury investigation. We hold that the trial court erred in admitting the booking photo into evidence and that, under the circumstances of this case, the error is not harmless. We consider the other issues because they would either afford Defendant greater relief or they will arise on retrial. We affirm on those issues.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

{2} Defendant was accused of selling cocaine to undercover agent Rudy Castro in Alamogordo on August 7, 1996. He was indicted in October 1996, and his case was joined with a ease against Richard “Rick” Jackson. Defendant filed a motion to dismiss the indictment based on the fact that he had not been given notice that he was a target of a grand jury investigation. The State responded that target notices were not sent when the matters before the grand jury grew out of undercover investigations. In addition, the State argued that Defendant had failed to show that he was prejudiced by the lack of a target notice. The trial court held an evidentiary hearing and denied the motion.

{3} The ease against Defendant and Jackson went to trial on March 24, 1997. During the opening statement, the prosecutor indicated that the evidence would show that Jackson was involved in a second cocaine transaction that took place on August 9, 1996, two days later than the transaction charged in the indictment. At the close of the prosecutor’s statement, counsel for Jackson moved for a mistrial, pointing out that the indictment only charged Jackson with the August 7th transaction. Counsel for Defendant joined in the motion. The trial court granted the motion for mistrial. Later, Jackson moved to sever the two cases. The subsequent trials were only of the charges against Defendant.

{4} The case against Defendant went to trial for the second time on September 22, 1997. However, the jury deadlocked and the trial court declared a mistrial based on manifest necessity. Defendant’s third trial took place in late February 1998. We will discuss the substance of the testimony in more detail in connection with the issue concerning the admission of the booking photo. At the present, it is enough to note that the main issue was whether Defendant was in fact the person who sold Castro cocaine on August 7, 1996. The only witnesses who testified to the alleged transaction were Castro, who identified Defendant as the person who sold him the cocaine, and Defendant, who testified that he did not sell Castro cocaine and that there were other black men at the Quik-Stop that day who could be mistaken for him. The jury convicted Defendant and this appeal followed.

I. Double Jeopardy Did Not Bar Defendant’s Subsequent Retrial

{5} Defendant argues that his retrial following the first declaration of a mistrial violates principles prohibiting double jeopardy and that his counsel was constitutionally ineffective because he failed to raise the issue below. In State v. Breit, 1996-NMSC-067, 122 N.M. 655, 930 P.2d 792, our Supreme Court discussed the circumstances under which prosecutorial misconduct that results in a mistrial will bar a subsequent trial.

Retrial is barred under Article II, Section 15, of the New Mexico Constitution, when improper official conduct is so unfairly prejudicial to the defendant that it cannot be cured by means short of a mistrial or a motion for a new trial, and if the official knows that the conduct is improper and prejudicial, and if the official either intends to provoke a mistrial or acts in willful disregard of the resulting mistrial, retrial, or reversal.

Id., ¶ 32.

{6} We will assume without analysis or decision the presence of the first two Breit factors. The third factor is determinative: whether the prosecutor intends to provoke a mistrial or acts in willful disregard of the resulting mistrial, retrial, or reversal. When the prosecutor does not intend to provoke a mistrial, “the misconduct necessary to bar a retrial must be extraordinary.” State v. Foster, 1998-NMCA-163, ¶ 21, 126 N.M. 177, 967 P.2d 852; see also Breit, 122 N.M. 655, 930 P.2d 792, 1996-NMSC-067, ¶ 33 (suggesting that double jeopardy will rarely bar retrial when the misconduct is an isolated instance). In Breit, the misconduct was pervasive and unrelenting, demonstrating that the prosecutor willfully disregarded the possibility of a mistrial. This Court has indicated that this factor is not met when there is no indication that the misconduct was part of a “plan or scheme to inject unfair prejudice into the trial.” State v. Lucero, 1999-NMCA-102, ¶ 28, 127 N.M. 672, 986 P.2d 468. Moreover, this Court has held double jeopardy will not bar retrial when the prosecutor’s misconduct occurs early in the trial and there is nothing in the record indicating that the prosecution would benefit from a further delay in the matter. State v. Pacheco, 1998-NMCA-164, ¶ 14, 126 N.M. 278, 968 P.2d 789.

{7} Defendant argues that the prosecutor’s conduct was in willful disregard of the possibility of a mistrial. However, there is nothing in the record that suggests that the prosecutor was attempting to delay the trial in order to gain an advantage. On the contrary, the prosecutor’s opening statement indicated that the informant, Mark Jenkins, was going to testify and would identify Defendant as the person who sold Castro the cocaine. For reasons not explained in the record, Jenkins did not testify at the trial that resulted in Defendant’s conviction. Thus, the record suggests that the prosecution may actually have been disadvantaged by the delay caused by the misconduct. Moreover, the prosecutor contended that her actions were appropriate because evidence concerning Jackson’s involvement in the second transaction was before the grand jury. While this does not make the conduct any less wrongful, it does suggest the possibility that the prosecutor thought that the indictment included this transaction, suggesting that the prosecutor’s actions were mistaken or negligent rather than an attempt to inject unfair prejudice into the trial. In short, on this record we think the evidence in the record is open to interpretation and does not compel the conclusion that the prosecutor intended to provoke a mistrial or acted in willful disregard of the possibility of a mistrial.

{8} Defendant also argues that his trial counsel was constitutionally ineffective because counsel failed to file a motion to dismiss arguing that the prosecutor’s misconduct raised the bar of double jeopardy against a retrial. In considering this issue, we examine “(1) whether the record supports the motion and (2) whether ‘a reasonably competent attorney could have decided that [the] motion ...

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Bluebook (online)
6 P.3d 1026, 129 N.M. 304, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-haynes-nmctapp-2000.