State v. Jackson

2009 NMCA 068, 212 P.3d 1117, 146 N.M. 563
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 23, 2009
Docket28,107
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 2009 NMCA 068 (State v. Jackson) 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. Jackson, 2009 NMCA 068, 212 P.3d 1117, 146 N.M. 563 (N.M. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

OPINION

VANZI, Judge.

{1} The issue presented in this case is whether a person on probation who provides a false urine sample may be convicted of tampering with evidence in violation of NMSA 1978, Section 30-22-5(B)(4) (2003). Defendant moved to dismiss on grounds that such conduct does not, by itself, constitute tampering with evidence. The district court denied Defendant’s motion, and Defendant appeals. We reverse.

I. BACKGROUND

{2} Defendant was charged with tampering with evidence in violation of Section 30-22-5(B), and Defendant filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that his conduct did not constitute tampering with evidence as a matter of law. The parties stipulated that the following facts would be presented if the case went to trial.

{3} While on probation, Defendant was required to submit to random urinalyses. Defendant reported to the probation office to provide a urine sample and brought with him a bottle of clean urine hidden in his pants. Upon receiving the sample, the probation officer became suspicious because the urine specimen was not warm. The probation officer questioned Defendant, who denied he was hiding anything. However, as Defendant was leaving the restroom, a bottle of urine fell from his pocket and rolled on the floor. Defendant then admitted to the probation officer his attempt to provide a false urine sample.

{4} Defendant’s motion to dismiss asserted that the tampering with evidence statute only reaches conduct which interferes with the investigation or prosecution of a crime, and providing a false urine sample to his probation officer, without more, is only a probation violation. The district court ruled that Defendant’s conduct falls within the statute and denied Defendant’s motion to dismiss. Defendant then entered into a conditional plea to tampering with evidence, reserving his right to appeal the denial of his motion to dismiss.

II. DISCUSSION

{5} The parties dispute whether an essential element of Section 30-22-5(B) is that the conduct interfere with the prosecution or investigation of a crime. The parties also dispute whether the 2003 amendments to the statute evidence a legislative intent that such an underlying crime is an essential element of the crime. These arguments require us to construe the statute, and our review is de novo. See State v. Duhon, 2005-NMCA-120, ¶ 10, 138 N.M. 466, 122 P.3d 50.

A. Requirement of an Underlying Crime

{6} The State asserts, “Defendant acted intentionally to prevent apprehension or prosecution of himself on a probation violation by passing off clean urine instead of his own. On its face, the statute requires nothing more.” We reject this argument for the following reasons.

{7} The tampering statute was enacted to punish those who deprive the state of evidence needed to investigate possible crimes. Section 30-22-5(A) defines tampering with evidence as “destroying, changing, hiding, placing or fabricating any physical evidence with intent to prevent the apprehension, prosecution or conviction of any person or to throw suspicion of the commission of a crime upon another.” Initially, we point out that the tampering with evidence statute is included in Article 22, entitled “Interference with Law Enforcement.” Sections 30-22-1 to-27 (1963, as amended through 2006). The plain language of the statute dictates that the Legislature intended to criminalize actions that impede the efforts of law enforcement. In State v. Roybal, 115 N.M. 27, 34, 846 P.2d 333, 340 (Ct.App.1992), we concluded that a conviction for tampering requires active disruption by the defendant of the investigatory process. Thus, in order to convict a defendant for tampering with evidence, we stated “there must be sufficient evidence from which the jury can infer: (1) the specific intent of the [defendant to disrupt the police investigation; and (2) that [the defendant actively 'destroyed or hid physical evidence.’ ” State v. Duran, 2006-NMSC-035, ¶ 14, 140 N.M. 94, 140 P.3d 515. Intent can be inferred from an overt act or the conduct of a defendant. Id.; see also State v. Silva, 2008-NMSC-051, ¶18, 144 N.M. 815,192 P.3d 1192 (same).

{8} The State’s argument wholly ignores the requirement of an intent to disrupt a police investigation into an underlying criminal act. The two cases relied upon by the State, State v. Arellano, 91 N.M. 195, 572 P.2d 223 (Ct.App.1977), and People v. Frayer, 661 P.2d 1189 (Colo.Ct.App.1982), ajfd, 684 P.2d 927 (Colo.1984), do not support its position that Defendant in this case could be convicted on the basis of “passing off clean urine instead of his own.”

{9} In Arellano, the defendant told police that the decedent had shot himself. The police had no reason to arrest anyone at the time for any crime believing it was a suicide. 91 N.M. at 196, 572 P.2d at 224. Police later learned that (1) the medical examiner could not determine whether the death was a homicide or suicide, (2) the defendant was alone in the car with the decedent when he was shot, or (3) the defendant gave the gun to his brother who wiped it clean of fingerprints. Id Thus, the police were unable to determine who shot the gun. Id at 197, 572 P.2d at 225. In holding that there was sufficient evidence of an overt act from which the jury could infer the defendant’s intent to tamper with evidence, we found that the applicability of the statute does not depend on whether a crime in fact occurred or upon the knowledge or belief of the police because the circumstances were consistent with the statutory emphasis on the defendant’s conduct and intent. In other words, there was substantial evidence that the defendant hid the pistol in order to prevent an official proceeding or investigation into whether he murdered the decedent. Id.

{10} The State’s reliance on Frayer also fails. The State argues that the Frayer court upheld a conviction for tampering even though the defendant “was not hiding or destroying [evidence] to cover up some other crime.” The State misreads the facts and holding in that case. In Frayer, a pharmacist suspected a phoned-in prescription was phony and alerted police that the defendant was on her way to the store to pick up the narcotic. 661 P.2d at 1190. When the defendant walked out of the store, a police officer was waiting and ordered her to stop. Id. The defendant tried to get into a waiting car, but the officer grabbed her and told her she was under arrest. Id. The defendant threw the bag containing the prescription toward the car. Id. The officer retrieved the bottle, but the defendant grabbed it from him again and broke it. Id. As we noted in Roybal, 115 N.M. at 33, 846 P.2d at 339, the circumstances in Frayer are a typical example of the type of behavior that underlies a charge of tampering with evidence because in that case it was “relatively easy to infer [the defendant’s] intent to thwart the officer’s investigation” by destroying incriminating evidence of a crime. Roybal, 115 N.M. at 33, 846 P.2d at 339.

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Related

State v. Urquizo
2012 NMCA 113 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2012)
State v. Jackson
2010 NMSC 32 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 2010)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2009 NMCA 068, 212 P.3d 1117, 146 N.M. 563, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-jackson-nmctapp-2009.