State v. Lee

2009 NMCA 075, 213 P.3d 509, 146 N.M. 605
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 11, 2009
Docket27,402
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 2009 NMCA 075 (State v. Lee) 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. Lee, 2009 NMCA 075, 213 P.3d 509, 146 N.M. 605 (N.M. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

OPINION

SUTIN, Judge.

{1} Defendant challenges his convictions for forgery and attempted fraud over $250 stemming from the same conduct as violative of double jeopardy. We reverse Defendant’s conviction for attempted fraud.

BACKGROUND

{2} Defendant was charged in October 2005 and, following a jury trial, was convicted of forgery in violation of NMSA 1978, Section 30-16-10 (1963) (amended 2006), and of attempted fraud over $250 in violation of NMSA 1978, Section 30-16-6 (1987) (amended 2006) and Section 30-28-1 (1963). At trial, the State presented evidence that on July 5, 2005, Defendant attempted to cash a $1000 check at the Bank of the Southwest (the Bank) in Roswell, New Mexico. According to the testimony of an employee of the Bank, Defendant drove up to the Bank’s drive-up window and presented a check from Delton’s Plumbing Company, Inc. made payable to “Nicklas Pina,” along with a driver’s license bearing Defendant’s picture but with the name and signature of “Nicklas Pina.” The employee noticed that the signature on the check did not match her recollection of the signature on file with the Bank for Del-ton’s Plumbing. The employee asked her supervisor to pull the signature card for Del-ton’s Plumbing and handed the check and driver’s license to him. At that point, the supervisor noticed that it appeared the name on the license had been altered. The signature on the check was compared to the signature on the Bank’s signature card, and they did not match. The supervisor told Defendant that someone from Delton’s Plumbing was coming to verify the check, and he immediately drove away leaving the check and driver’s license behind.

{3} Defendant’s uncle and aunt own Del-ton’s Plumbing and, up until April 2005, Defendant had “come and gone several times.” Defendant’s aunt told Detective Miguel Lopez that the person in the driver’s license picture was her nephew. On that same day, she also noticed that about eight checks were missing from the business, including the one Defendant attempted to cash. Defendant’s uncle testified at trial that he had not authorized issuance of the check that Defendant tried to cash. Defendant’s aunt also testified at trial that she had not authorized issuance of the check that Defendant tried to cash. Defendant’s cousin, the secretary and bookkeeper of Delton’s Plumbing, who was also authorized to sign the business’s checks, further testified at trial that she had not authorized issuance of the check that Defendant tried to cash. The jury found Defendant guilty of forgery and attempted fraud over $250.

{4} Before sentencing, Defendant moved to merge the forgery count and the attempted fraud over $250 count. He asserted that because passing the check was a single act and both convictions stemmed from the same unitary act, sentencing for both counts violated the double jeopardy clauses of the United States and New Mexico Constitutions. After a hearing on the motion, the district court determined that different acts were involved in presenting the check to try to get money for it and in forging the check with the intent to deceive or injure, and the court denied Defendant’s motion. On appeal, Defendant challenges his forgery and attempted fraud convictions on double jeopardy grounds. We discuss the offenses in more detail in our double jeopardy analysis.

DISCUSSION

{5} The United States Constitution and the New Mexico Constitution protect criminal defendants against multiple punishments for the same offense. U.S. Const, amends. V, XIV; N.M. Const, art. II, § 15; State v. DeGraff, 2006-NMSC-011, ¶ 25, 139 N.M. 211, 131 P.3d 61. Whether a defendant’s convictions constitute multiple punishments for the same offense as barred by the double jeopardy clause “is a question of legislative intent, which we review de novo.” State v. Franco, 2005-NMSC-013, ¶5, 137 N.M. 447, 112 P.3d 1104; State v. Caldwell, 2008-NMCA-049, ¶ 5, 143 N.M. 792, 182 P.3d 775, cert. denied, 2008-NMCERT-003, 143 N.M. 681, 180 P.3d 1180.

Multiple Punishments

{6} We analyze this multiple punishment, double-description, double-jeopardy challenge pursuant to Swafford v. State, 112 N.M. 3, 810 P.2d 1223 (1991). Caldwell, 2008-NMCA-049, ¶ 6, 143 N.M. 792, 182 P.3d 775; State v. Schackow, 2006-NMCA-123, ¶ 16, 140 N.M. 506, 143 P.3d 745.

1. Unitary Conduct

{7} First, we determine if Defendant’s conduct underlying the offenses was unitary. Swafford, 112 N.M. at 13, 810 P.2d at 1233. To make this determination, we evaluate “whether Defendant’s acts are separated by sufficient indicia of distinctness,” including any separation “in time and space, the quality and nature of the acts, and the objectives and results of the acts.” Schackow, 2006-NMCA-123, ¶ 18, 140 N.M. 506, 143 P.3d 745 (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). “If sufficient indicia of distinctness exist and a defendant’s behavior may be viewed as two distinct acts, the inquiry ends because double jeopardy does not bar multiple convictions when the conduct is non-unitary.” Caldwell, 2008-NMCA-049, ¶ 7, 143 N.M. 792, 182 P.3d 775.

{8} The State argues that the acts we are to consider are forgery of the cheek and attempted fraud by presenting the check to the Bank and argues that these were distinct acts because Defendant presented the cheek after it had already been forged. We disagree. The facts in this ease appear to be similar to those in Caldwell, where the defendant presented a forged check to a retail store to be cashed, carried away the proceeds, and was charged with both forgery and fraud. Id. ¶ 9. This Court concluded that the defendant’s convictions were based on “a discrete act, not separated by time or space, and not distinguishable based on the nature, quality, or result of the act, or [the d]efendant’s objective in performing the act” and determined that the conduct was unitary. Id. We conclude that Defendant’s conduct in this case was unitary. As we discuss in more detail later in this opinion, Defendant’s forgery conviction was based on giving or delivering a cheek knowing it to have a false signature and with the intent to deceive the Bank. Defendant’s attempted fraud conviction was based on his attempt to misrepresent the validity of the check to the Bank and with the intent to deceive the Bank. The convictions were based on the same conduct and constituted a single, discrete act. When the conduct is unitary, we continue the Swafford analysis and determine if the Legislature intended multiple punishments for the unitary conduct. 112 N.M. at 14, 810 P.2d at 1234. We therefore turn to the second prong of the Swafford analysis. See Caldwell, 2008-NMCA-049, ¶ 9, 143 N.M. 792, 182 P.3d 775.

2. Legislative Intent

{9} “The sole limitation on multiple punishments is legislative intent.” Id. ¶ 10 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). “Absent a clear expression of legislative intent, a court first must apply the Blockburger [v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 52 S.Ct. 180, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932),] test to the elements of each statute.” Swafford, 112 N.M. at 14, 810 P.2d at 1234.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2009 NMCA 075, 213 P.3d 509, 146 N.M. 605, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-lee-nmctapp-2009.