State v. Munoz

702 P.2d 985, 103 N.M. 40
CourtNew Mexico Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 8, 1985
Docket15138
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 702 P.2d 985 (State v. Munoz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Munoz, 702 P.2d 985, 103 N.M. 40 (N.M. 1985).

Opinions

OPINION

RIORDAN, Justice.

David Munoz (defendant) was convicted of first-degree felony murder and attempted robbery. Defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder and eighteen months for the attempted robbery. Defendant appeals his convictions. We reverse.

Defendant raises four issues on appeal. Because one of the issues is dispositive, we find it unnecessary to address the remaining three. The issue we address is whether the trial court erred in allowing defendant’s trial to continue over defendant’s objection to the State’s use of defendant’s prior immunized testimony.

Defendant and Richard Montoya (Montoya) were sought for questioning in the murder of a Las Cruces undercover agent. After turning himself in to police, defendant gave four statements to investigating police officers. Three of those statements were exculpatory. The fourth statement implicated defendant and Montoya in the murder and robbery. Defendant and Montoya were subsequently indicted on counts of murder and armed robbery. The two were tried separately, with Montoya being tried first.1

Defendant was compelled to testify (immunized testimony) under a grant of use immunity at Montoya’s trial. During his immunized testimony, defendant’s previous statements to investigating officers were admitted into evidence, and defendant asserted, for the first time, that the investigating officers had coerced him into making the fourth (inculpatory) statement. The three investigating officers that were present when defendant made the four statements prior to his indictment were also present in the courtroom during defendant’s immunized testimony. These three officers later appeared and testified for the State at defendant’s trial.

The same district attorney prosecuted both Montoya and defendant. Prior to defendant’s trial, the district attorney filed a motion to “impeach defendant’s claim of coercion” on the ground that such claim had not been asserted at an earlier suppression hearing.2 The district attorney also instructed one of the investigating officers to time defendant’s prior statements to police, apparently to determine the time interval involved in the statement process in which the alleged coercion occurred. Furthermore, the district attorney requested and reviewed a transcript of defendant’s immunized testimony in preparation for defendant’s trial. Despite all of these facts, and over numerous objections by defense counsel before and during trial, defendant’s trial was allowed to continue.

On appeal, defendant argues that the district attorney’s actions show an unconstitutional use of defendant’s immunized testimony. Defendant further argues that the state failed to meet its heavy burden of proving that the evidence presented against defendant was untainted by defendant’s immunized testimony. We agree.

It has been held that a grant of immunity should leave the witness and the prosecuting authorities “in substantially the same position as if the witness had claimed his [Fifth Amendment] privilege.” Murphy v. Waterfront Commission, 378 U.S. 52, 79, 84 S.Ct. 1594, 1609, 12 L.Ed.2d 678 (1964). Thus:

[A] grant of immunity must afford protection commensurate with that afforded by the [Fifth Amendment] privilege * * Immunity from the use of compelled testimony [use immunity], as well as evidence derived directly and indirectly therefrom, affords this protection. It prohibits the prosecutorial authorities from using the compelled testimony in any respect, and it therefore insures that the testimony cannot lead to the infliction of criminal penalties on the witness.

Kastigar v. United States, 406 U.S. 441, 453, 92 S.Ct. 1653, 1661, 32 L.Ed.2d 212 (1972) (emphasis in original).

A witness that has been accorded use immunity and that is subsequently prosecuted for offenses revealed during such immunized testimony “is not dependent for the preservation of his rights upon the integrity and good faith of the prosecuting authorities.” Id. at 460, 92 S.Ct. at 1664; Kastigar requires that a defendant only show that he has testified under a grant of immunity. The prosecuting authorities then “have the burden of showing that their evidence is not tainted [by exposure to prior immunized testimony] by establishing that they had an independent, legitimate source for the disputed evidence.” Id. (quoting Murphy v. Waterfront Commission, 378 U.S. at 79 n. 18, 84 S.Ct. at 1609 n. 18). It is not enough that the prosecuting authorities simply negate the existence of taint in order to meet this burden. Instead, the prosecution has “the affirmative duty to prove that the evidence it proposes to use is derived from a legitimate source wholly independent of the compelled testimony.” Id.

Various lower United States court decisions have addressed the Kastigar prohibitions on the use of prior immunized testimony. In United States v. McDaniel, 482 F.2d 305 (8th Cir.1973), McDaniel had been extended complete immunity from state prosecution upon appearing before a state grand jury. Sometime after McDaniel’s state grand jury appearance, the United States Attorney requested and reviewed a copy of McDaniel’s testimony, not realizing that such testimony was immunized. Shortly thereafter, McDaniel was indicted on federal charges. McDaniel was subsequently convicted and appealed his conviction. On appeal, McDaniel asserted that under the circumstances, it would be impossible for the prosecution to meet the heavy burden of proof required under Kastigar. The McDaniel Court found that, despite the fact that voluminous F.B.I. reports received by the United States Attorney prior to McDaniel’s immunized state grand jury testimony may have provided proof of an independent source for the government’s case against McDaniel, such reports:

nevertheless fail[ed] to satisfy the government’s burden of proving that the United States Attorney, who admittedly read McDaniel’s grand jury testimony prior to the indictments, did not use it in some significant way short of introducing tainted evidence. Such use could conceivably include assistance in focusing the investigation, deciding to initiate prosecution, refusing to plea-bargain, interpreting evidence, planning cross-examination, and otherwise generally planning trial strategy.
Kastigar, after all, proscribed “any use, direct or indirect * * * * ” And, indeed, if the immunity protection is to be coextensive with the Fifth Amendment privilege, as it must to be constitutionally sufficient, then it must forbid all prosecutorial use of the testimony, not merely that which results in the presentation of evidence before the jury.

McDaniel, 482 F.2d at 311 (emphasis added; citations omitted). The McDaniel Court held that under these circumstances, the government could not meet its heavy burden of proof required by Kastigar:

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State v. Munoz
702 P.2d 985 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 1985)

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Bluebook (online)
702 P.2d 985, 103 N.M. 40, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-munoz-nm-1985.