State v. Salinas

CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 23, 2018
DocketA-1-CA-35689
StatusUnpublished

This text of State v. Salinas (State v. Salinas) 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. Salinas, (N.M. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

This memorandum opinion was not selected for publication in the New Mexico Appellate Reports. Please see Rule 12-405 NMRA for restrictions on the citation of unpublished memorandum opinions. Please also note that this electronic memorandum opinion may contain computer-generated errors or other deviations from the official paper version filed by the Court of Appeals and does not include the filing date.

1 IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO

2 STATE OF NEW MEXICO,

3 Plaintiff-Appellee,

4 v. NO. A-1-CA-35689

5 ARACELIA SALINAS,

6 Defendant-Appellant.

7 APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF LEA COUNTY 8 Mark T. Sanchez, District Judge

9 Hector H. Balderas, Attorney General 10 Santa Fe, NM 11 Maha Khoury, Assistant Attorney General 12 Santa Fe, NM

13 for Appellee

14 Templeman and Crutchfield 15 C. Barry Crutchfield 16 Lovington, NM

17 for Appellant

18 MEMORANDUM OPINION

19 HANISEE, Judge. 1 {1} In December 2014 Defendant Aracelia Salinas pleaded guilty to one count of

2 distribution of marijuana or synthetic cannabinoids in violation of NMSA 1978,

3 Section 30-31-22(A)(1)(a) (2011), a fourth degree felony. After sentencing Defendant

4 to the maximum period of incarceration, the district court suspended Defendant’s

5 sentence and placed her on supervised probation. While Defendant was still on

6 probation, the State filed a petition to revoke Defendant’s probation based on an

7 alleged violation of the terms and conditions of her probation. Following a probation

8 revocation hearing, the district court found that Defendant had violated her conditions

9 of probation, revoked probation, and sentenced Defendant to the remainder of her

10 sentence plus one additional one year of incarceration as a habitual offender.

11 Defendant appeals from that decision, arguing that the district court abused its

12 discretion in finding that Defendant had violated the terms and conditions of her

13 probation. We affirm.

14 {2} Because this is a memorandum opinion and the parties are familiar with the

15 facts of this case, we reserve discussion of facts where pertinent to our analysis.

16 DISCUSSION

17 Standard of Review

18 {3} “We review a district court’s decision to revoke probation under an abuse of

19 discretion standard. To establish an abuse of discretion, it must appear [that] the

2 1 district court acted unfairly or arbitrarily, or committed manifest error.” State v.

2 Green, 2015-NMCA-007, ¶ 22, 341 P.3d 10 (alterations, internal quotation marks, and

3 citation omitted). In a probation revocation proceeding, the state bears the burden of

4 proving a probation violation “with a reasonable certainty,” meaning “such that a

5 reasonable and impartial mind would believe that the defendant violated the terms of

6 probation.” Id. “Proof of a probation violation need not be established beyond a

7 reasonable doubt.” Id. In reviewing a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence

8 supporting revocation, we “view[] the evidence in a light most favorable to the [s]tate

9 and indulg[e] all reasonable inferences in favor of the [district] court’s judgment.”

10 State v. Erickson K., 2002-NMCA-058, ¶ 21, 132 N.M. 258, 46 P.3d 1258.

11 The Alleged Probation Violation and Proof Thereof

12 {4} The State petitioned to revoke Defendant’s probation based on a report of

13 probation violation by Defendant’s probation officer, Christopher Betsch, containing

14 an allegation that Defendant violated the special condition of probation prohibiting her

15 from possessing “synthetic cannabinoids or counterfeit synthetic cannabinoids.”

16 Betsch’s report explained that on January 8 and 19, 2016, the Lea County Drug Task

17 Force conducted an undercover investigation at Defendant’s place of business,

18 Smokers Outlet, and that on those dates, Defendant “was in possession of and

3 1 distributed counterfeit synthetic cannabinoids and rolling papers to an undercover

2 agent.”

3 {5} At Defendant’s probation revocation hearing, the undercover agent involved

4 testified that he purchased from Defendant four two-gram bags of “Dr. Feelgood

5 potpourri” and rolling papers for $122.50 on January 8, 2016, and two five-gram bags

6 of “Dr. Feelgood potpourri” and rolling papers for $131.07 on January 19, 2016.

7 Defendant’s prior probation officer, Yadira Serrano, testified regarding the

8 explanations she provided to Defendant at the time Defendant started her probation

9 about the specific types of substances Defendant was prohibited from possessing

10 under the terms and conditions of her probation. Finally, Samuel Titone, a forensic

11 analyst in drug identification with the New Mexico Department of Public Safety

12 Forensic Laboratory, provided expert testimony regarding the chemical composition

13 of the substance he extracted from the material contained in the “Dr. Feelgood

14 potpourri” bags, which he identified as “5-fluoro-ADB.” Specifically, Titone testified

15 that 5-fluoro-ADB has one of the known basic structures—known as an indozole—of

16 a synthetic cannabinoid and that he would consider 5-fluoro-ADB to be a synthetic

17 cannabinoid Based on the evidence presented at the hearing, the district court

18 concluded that Defendant had violated the special condition of her probation,

4 1 prohibiting her from possessing synthetic cannabinoids or counterfeit synthetic

2 cannabinoids.

3 {6} On appeal, Defendant does not dispute that she sold the identified substances

4 to the undercover agent, and therefore possessed “Dr. Feelgood potpourri” as alleged

5 in the revocation petition. She argues only that the State failed to meet its burden with

6 respect to proving (a) that “the substance involved was a synthetic cannabinoid[,]” and

7 (b) that Defendant “had any knowledge [that] the contents of the items sold . . .

8 contain[ed] any improper substance.” Ignoring that the State sought revocation based

9 not on an alleged violation of generally applicable law but on the special condition

10 against possession of “synthetic cannabinoids or counterfeit sfynthetic cannabinoids,”

11 Defendant focuses on the State’s stipulation that the “Dr. Feelgood potpourri”

12 contained no substance listed in the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), NMSA 1978,

13 §§ 30-31-1 to -41 (1972, as amended through 2015), as somehow establishing that the

14 State failed to meet its burden of proof required to establish a probation violation.

15 Specifically, Defendant argues that 5-fluoro-ADB was not one of the chemical

16 compounds listed in either Section 30-31-6(C)(19) (identifying specific chemical

17 designations of substances considered to be “synthetic cannabinoids”), or

18 16.19.20.65(C)(35) NMAC (supplementing the list of chemical compounds deemed

5 1 “synthetic cannabinoids”), at the time of Defendant’s alleged probation violation,1

2 meaning that Defendant was not on notice that possessing or distributing a substance

3 containing the chemical compound 5-fluoro-ADB was “unlawful.” In other words,

4 Defendant contends that in the absence of the State proving that she (1) possessed a

5 controlled substance—to wit, a “synthetic cannabinoid” as expressly identified in the

6 CSA—and (2) knew that she possessed a controlled substance, the State could not

7 establish that she violated a condition of probation. Defendant is wrong.

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Bluebook (online)
State v. Salinas, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-salinas-nmctapp-2018.