State v. Orquiz

2003 NMCA 089, 74 P.3d 91, 134 N.M. 157
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 14, 2003
Docket23,103
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 2003 NMCA 089 (State v. Orquiz) 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. Orquiz, 2003 NMCA 089, 74 P.3d 91, 134 N.M. 157 (N.M. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

OPINION

PICKARD, Judge.

{1} In this opinion, we discuss whether the failure to serve a jail sentence can be considered a violation of a condition of probation and whether the judgment and sentence originally issued by the trial court clearly defined the requirements of Defendant’s sentence. We also discuss the adequacy of the notice to Defendant of the alleged probation violations. Finally, we discuss whether a new judge should hear the matter on remand because there was an appearance that the trial court prejudged that Defendant violated his probation and predetermined Defendant’s punishment. We reverse Defendant’s probation revocation, we remand for reinstatement of Defendant’s probation, and we determine that a new judge is required to preside over further proceedings in this case.

FACTS

{2} Defendant pleaded guilty to misdemeanor aggravated battery against a household member. Pursuant to his plea agreement, he was to be sentenced to 364-days, all but eighteen days suspended, to be served on weekends and days off. The Judgment and Sentence, entered on October 22, 2001, states that Defendant “is sentenced to Three Hundred and Sixty-Four (364) days to be served in the Eddy County Detention Center” and that “Defendant’s sentence shall be suspended with the exception of Eighteen (18) days to be served on his days off from work or on weekends in the Eddy County Detention Center, Carlsbad, New Mexico. The remainder of Defendant’s sentence shall be served on unsupervised probation.” The Judgment and Sentence further states, “[a]s a condition of his probation, Defendant must attend and successfully complete an Anger Management Program as ordered by the Adult Probation and Parole Office and shall not consume any alcohol during his period of probation.”

{3} Defendant arranged through the Artesia city jail administrator to serve his jail time there instead of in the Eddy County facility. The administrator and Defendant worked out a schedule which anticipated that Defendant would complete his eighteen days of incarceration in early November 2001. In fact, Defendant had only served a total of twenty-four hours by February 18, 2002, when he was arrested on a bench warrant issued for “failure to serve jail sentence.” After a hearing, Defendant’s probation was revoked because the trial court found that the “judgment and sentence that I handed down have been completely obviated and frustrated by the conduct of [Defendant].” It is apparent from the remarks that the trial court made at the conclusion of the hearing that it determined that Defendant did not serve his eighteen days of incarceration as required, that he did not complete the anger management program, and that he did not plan to serve his jail time in the Eddy County facility. Defendant appeals the revocation of his probation and asks for a new hearing in front of a new judge.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

{4} We review a trial court’s probation revocation decision under an abuse of discretion standard. State v. Martinez, 108 N.M. 604, 606, 775 P.2d 1321, 1323 (Ct.App.1989). “To establish an abuse of discretion, it must appear the trial court acted unfairly or arbitrarily, or committed manifest error.” Id.

REVOCATION OF PROBATION

Failure to Serve Jail Sentence

{5} The order revoking Defendant’s probation declares only that Defendant violated the conditions of his probation. Defendant argues, and the State agrees, that his eighteen days of incarceration could not be a condition of his probation. See State v. Martinez, 99 N.M. 248, 250, 656 P.2d 911, 913 (Ct.App.1982) (“[A] sentence of imprisonment cannot be a condition of probation.”). The State argues that, since the eighteen days of incarceration is fairly interpreted as a condition of probation, the entire sentence is illegal and should be invalidated. Defendant’s argument is that the eighteen days was simply his sentence and therefore the completion or incompletion of the sentence could not be considered as grounds for revoking his probation. Defendant further argues that he did not fail to complete his sentence because the trial court did not mandate any time frame for serving the sentence, and he had seven months remaining on his 364-day sentence in which to complete serving his eighteen days.

{6} We first determine that Defendant’s sentence is legal. The trial court only has authority to sentence as provided by statute. State v. Dominguez, 115 N.M. 445, 456, 853 P.2d 147, 158 (Ct.App.1993). Defendant pleaded guilty to aggravated battery against a household member, contrary to NMSA 1978, § 30-3-16CB) (1995). This is a misdemeanor, punishable by a definite term of less than one year. NMSA 1978, § 31 — 19— 1(A) (1984). If the sentence given is suspended or deferred, the trial court shall order supervised or unsupervised probation for all or some portion of the period of deferment or suspension. Section 31-19-1(0). The trial court sentenced Defendant to 364 days in the Eddy County Detention Center, suspended the sentence with the exception of eighteen days to be served on Defendant’s days off from work or on weekends, and ordered Defendant to serve the remainder of his sentence on unsupervised probation. This sentence is in accord with the statutes cited above, and is therefore appropriate and legal.

{7} We next determine that there is no ambiguity in the plea agreement regarding Defendant’s sentence. “A plea agreement is a unique form of contract the terms of which must be interpreted, understood, and approved by the trial court.” State v. Mares, 119 N.M. 48, 51, 888 P.2d 930, 933 (1994). Upon review, we construe the terms of the plea agreement according to what Defendant reasonably understood when he entered the plea. Id. Here, neither the plea agreement nor the judgment and sentence explicitly describe when the eighteen days should be served. The judgment and sentence states only that the eighteen days are to be served on Defendant’s days off from work or on weekends. During the discussion at the plea hearing, the trial court asked Defendant if the weekends would be “a continuous type deal,” and Defendant responded that he was just starting his own business and could not be specific about the days and weekends he could serve. Even the schedule worked out with the Artesia jail administrator was deemed tentative and “not locked in stone.” Indeed, in the printed schedule, the administrator acknowledged that Defendant “had longer tha[n] this to serve the [eighteen] days.”

{8} It is apparent that Defendant understood that he was allowed to be flexible with the timing and arrangement of his days in jail. Moreover, the trial court approved the plea agreement and rendered the sentence without specific dates for commencing and serving the eighteen days, as evidenced by the documents themselves. Accordingly, we determine that Defendant’s interpretation, that he could flexibly serve his eighteen days sometime during the 364 day sentence, is reasonable.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2003 NMCA 089, 74 P.3d 91, 134 N.M. 157, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-orquiz-nmctapp-2003.