State v. Romero

1998 NMCA 057, 958 P.2d 119, 125 N.M. 161
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 19, 1998
Docket17836
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 1998 NMCA 057 (State v. Romero) 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. Romero, 1998 NMCA 057, 958 P.2d 119, 125 N.M. 161 (N.M. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

OPINION

BOSSON, Judge.

{1} We grant the State’s motion for rehearing and substitute this opinion for the one filed February 20,1998.

{2} This appeal is directed at two issues. First, we determine when the crime of criminal trespass is a lesser-included offense of aggravated burglary and justifies a separate jury instruction. Second, we examine the defense of diminished capacity due to intoxication with respect to the specific intent necessary to commit the crime of aggravated burglary and when an instruction on that defense is warranted. Because Defendant was wrongfully refused an instruction on both issues, we reverse his conviction of aggravated burglary and remand for a new trial.

BACKGROUND

{3} On two separate occasions, Defendant entered the trailer home of his ex-girlfriend, Marisa Cruz, against her wishes. The first time Defendant entered Cruz’s home, she asked him to leave, but he refused. She threatened to call the police if he did not leave, and Defendant replied that he did not care. Cruz believed Defendant was drunk because usually, if she asked him to leave, he would do so. Cruz testified that Defendant wanted her to sleep with him and that he kept touching her. In time, Defendant passed out on a couch, and Cruz called the police.

{4} When Officer Sinclair arrived at the Cruz residence at approximately 2:11 a.m., Cruz told him that she wanted Defendant removed from her trailer. Officer Sinclair observed Defendant lying on a couch in the living room. He had to grab one of Defendant’s arms to help Defendant up from the couch. Officer Sinclair testified that he needed assistance in removing Defendant from the Cruz residence because he believed that Defendant was under the influence of alcohol. With the assistance of another officer, Officer Sinclair placed Defendant in his police car. Officer Sinclair thought Defendant was drunk because he could smell alcohol and Defendant was unsteady on his feet. Although Officer Sinclair initially planned to place Defendant in a detoxification cell so that he could sober up, the officer changed his mind and decided to take Defendant home. Officer Sinclair testified that once he woke up Defendant and got him out into the front yard, Defendant “had pretty much come to and knew his whereabouts and seemed to be like he was under his own power to where [he] could go ahead and take him to his house.” Officer Sinclair drove Defendant to his mother’s home approximately three blocks from the Cruz trailer. Defendant walked into his mother’s residence “on his own power” and shut the door behind him.

{5} After Officer Sinclair and Defendant left, Cruz began to fall asleep on the couch. About fifteen minutes after Officer Sinclair had first removed Defendant from her home, Cruz was awakened by Defendant. Defendant had reentered her home and was sitting on the couch above her head and watching her. As soon as she opened her eyes, Defendant grabbed her. Defendant asked why Cruz had called the police, and the two began arguing and fighting. Defendant dragged Cruz through the kitchen into her bedroom as Cruz resisted and tried to fight him off. Defendant threw Cruz on the bed and began choking her. Defendant removed Cruz’s shorts and grabbed her panties and tried to take them off. While trying to open Cruz’s legs, Defendant had his thumbs pressed in her genital area. The two struggled on the bed for approximately two hours until Defendant passed out, and Cruz again called the police.

{6} Officer Montoya was dispatched to Cruz’s residence at approximately 3:55 a.m. and responded to the call in about five minutes. When he arrived, Cruz told him Defendant had tried to penetrate her. Officer Montoya found Defendant on the bed naked from the waist down. After taking Defendant into protective custody, Officer Montoya telephoned Cruz to tell her they could hold Defendant in detoxification for eight hours.

{7} Defendant was not charged with a crime until approximately two years later. Charges were filed for aggravated burglary, assault with intent to commit a violent felony, false imprisonment, and criminal sexual contact. Defendant was convicted of aggravated burglary and false imprisonment. On appeal, Defendant challenges only his conviction for aggravated burglary.

DISCUSSION

{8} Aggravated burglary requires the unauthorized entry of a dwelling, with intent to commit a felony, and that the offender either be armed or commit a battery in the course of the burglary. NMSA 1978, § 30-16-4 (1963). The State sought an aggravated burglary conviction on the theory that when Defendant entered Cruz’s home, he did so with the intent to commit the felony of criminal sexual penetration. Specifically, the jury was instructed that to find Defendant guilty of aggravated burglary, the State had to prove that “[w]hen the defendant entered the residence he intended to cause Marisa Cruz to engage in sexual intercourse through the use of physical force or physical violence.” (Emphasis omitted.) An intent formed after the illegal entry would not suffice. Defendant contended that he had no intent to rape Ms. Cruz at the time he entered her trailer, and therefore Defendant requested an instruction on criminal trespass, as a lesser-included offense of aggravated burglary. A conviction of criminal trespass would punish Defendant for the illegal entry alone without the simultaneous intent to commit rape. Defendant also argued for an instruction that if the jury found Defendant was intoxicated, the jury could also find that he lacked the capacity to form the necessary intent to commit aggravated burglary.

Criminal Trespass as a Lesser-included Offense of Aggravated Burglary

{9} Defendant requested an instruction that to find Defendant guilty of the lesser-included offense of criminal trespass, the jury had to find the following elements beyond a reasonable doubt:

1. The defendant entered or remained in the dwelling of Marisa Cruz without the permission of Marisa Cruz;
2. The defendant knew or should have known that permission to enter or remain had been denied;
3. This happened in New Mexico on or about the 4th day of July, 1993.

(Emphasis added.) Defendant’s instruction correctly followed the Uniform Jury Instruction (UJI), Rule 14-1402 NMRA1998.

{10} The State objected to the tendered instruction, arguing that criminal trespass is not a lesser-included offense of aggravated burglary. The State took the position that the second element of criminal trespass, that permission to enter or remain had been denied, required a discrete affirmative act on the part of the occupant of the dwelling, which is not an element of aggravated burglary. The trial court agreed, stating that the second element of the proposed instruction would insert a different element not required for aggravated burglary. As the trial court stated: “if the jury were to reject what Miss Cruz has to say, that just that rejection of those items does not bring it down to this potential lesser included or to a lesser included. It really, I don’t think it does.” This reasoning indicates that the trial court also based its refusal of Defendant’s tendered instruction on a lack of evidence to support the lesser-included offense.

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Bluebook (online)
1998 NMCA 057, 958 P.2d 119, 125 N.M. 161, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-romero-nmctapp-1998.