State v. Jackson

429 P.3d 674
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 12, 2018
DocketNo. A-1-CA-34873
StatusPublished
Cited by37 cases

This text of 429 P.3d 674 (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, 429 P.3d 674 (N.M. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

VARGAS, Judge.

{1} Defendant Sharoski Jackson appeals his convictions for human trafficking, promoting prostitution, accepting earnings from a prostitute, contributing to a delinquency of a minor, and conspiracy. The charges arose from Defendant's interactions with a minor, B.G., in early 2013. At trial, the State presented its theory that B.G. was engaged in commercial sexual activity at the urging and with the assistance of Defendant. The jury found Defendant guilty of all counts.

{2} Defendant appeals, raising four points of error. First, Defendant claims that the district court erred by failing to properly instruct the jury that to convict him of human trafficking, it must find that he knew his victim was under the age of eighteen. Second, Defendant contends that the district court abused its discretion by admitting text messages without requiring the State to first lay a proper foundation for their admission. Third, Defendant argues that there was insufficient evidence to convict him of the charged crimes. Finally, Defendant insists that the district court abused its discretion when it denied his motion for a new trial, based on new evidence that B.G. purportedly lied during her testimony at trial. We discuss each of Defendant's claims of error in turn. Finding no error, we affirm.

DISCUSSION

A. Human Trafficking and Knowledge

{3} Defendant argues that the instructions submitted to the jury were inadequate because the jury should have been instructed that to convict Defendant, it must find Defendant knew B.G. was under the age of eighteen when the acts giving rise to the human trafficking conviction occurred. This is a novel issue that New Mexico courts have not yet considered-whether knowledge of the victim's age is an essential element of human trafficking under NMSA 1978, Section 30-52-1(A)(2) (2008). We begin our analysis by setting forth our standard of review, which requires a plain language reading of the statute. We then consider interpretations of similar statutory language from other jurisdictions to arrive at the conclusion that knowledge of the victim's age is not an element of human trafficking under Section 30-52-1(A)(2).

{4} Statutory interpretation presents "a question of law that we review de novo." State v. Parvilus , 2014-NMSC-028, ¶ 15, 332 P.3d 281. When interpreting statutes, we seek "to give effect to the intent of the Legislature." Id. ¶ 15 ; State ex rel. Helman v. Gallegos , 1994-NMSC-023, ¶ 23, 117 N.M. 346, 871 P.2d 1352 ("[I]t is part of the essence of judicial responsibility to search for and effectuate the legislative intent-the purpose or object-underlying the statute."). The first indicator of the Legislature's intent is the plain language of the statute. State v.Almanzar , 2014-NMSC-001, ¶ 14, 316 P.3d 183 (acknowledging that courts give "words their ordinary meaning, unless the Legislature indicates a different one was intended"). "When a statute contains language which is clear and unambiguous, we must give effect to that language and refrain from further statutory interpretation." State v. Jonathan M. , 1990-NMSC-046, ¶ 4, 109 N.M. 789, 791 P.2d 64, superseded by statute as stated in State v. DeAngelo , 2015-NMSC-033, 360 P.3d 1151.

{5} Our human trafficking statute provides:

A. Human trafficking consists of a person knowingly:
(1) recruiting, soliciting, enticing, transporting or obtaining by any means another person with the intent or knowledge that force, fraud or coercion will *678be used to subject the person to labor, services or commercial sexual activity;
(2) recruiting, soliciting, enticing, transporting or obtaining by any means a person under the age of eighteen years with the intent or knowledge that the person will be caused to engage in commercial sexual activity; or
(3) benefiting, financially or by receiving anything of value, from the labor, services or commercial sexual activity of another person with the knowledge that force, fraud or coercion was used to obtain the labor, services or commercial sexual activity.

Section 30-52-1(A).

{6} Initially, we note that the Legislature offset "knowingly" from the remainder of the definition of human trafficking, making it applicable to all three subparts of Section 30-52-1(A). Defendant argues that, with regard to Section 30-52-1(A)(2), the "knowingly" requirement refers to the entire phrase, "recruiting, soliciting, enticing, transporting, or obtaining by any means a person under the age of eighteen years." Applying the plain language rule and utilizing rules of grammar, we conclude that the more persuasive interpretation of the statute is that the Legislature intended that the "knowingly" requirement modify "recruiting, soliciting, enticing, transporting or obtaining" as they are used in Section 30-52-1(A)(1) and (2) and "benefiting" as it is used in Section 30-52-1(A)(3). See Wilson v. Denver , 1998-NMSC-016, ¶ 16, 125 N.M. 308, 961 P.2d 153 (acknowledging that application of the plain language rule allows us to consider and "rely on rules of grammar to aid our construction ... of a statute"); see also State v. Johnson , 2001-NMSC-001, ¶ 13, 130 N.M. 6,

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429 P.3d 674, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-jackson-nmctapp-2018.