State v. Talley

702 P.2d 353, 103 N.M. 33
New Mexico Court of Appeals·Decided June 4, 1985·No. 7921·Published·Cited by 84 cases

Opinion

OPINION

HENDLEY, Judge.

Convicted of two counts of burglary and one count each of larceny and arson, defendant appeals. The dispositive issue is ineffective assistance of counsel. We reverse and remand for a new trial on all counts.

Defendant and Jimmie Don Shamlin met while they were both staying at the Gospel Rescue Mission in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Shamlin had a car and defendant had some money. During the day of the Fourth of July, defendant and Shamlin drove around and shared between five to twelve pitchers of beer at the Welcome Inn. After the Welcome Inn closed, defendant and Shamlin drove to a residence known as “the old Burk house” and removed items valued at over $1,000, or more. The residence had recently been rented by Amazing Grace Fellowship which had employed defendant to do some of the repairs needed. At the time of the theft, defendant informed Shamlin that, since his fingerprints were in places where they should not be, he was going to set fire to the place. A fire was set and subsequently rekindled.

The only witness presented by the defense was Don Combs, a mental health professional, who testified that defendant suffered from an impulse disorder of pyromania. He testified that the disorder was increased by drinking. He also testified that the disorder was serious because of defendant’s extensive history of setting fires.

Defendant also claims that it is double jeopardy to prosecute him on the two counts of burglary. We answer his claim only because we remand the case. Because defendant committed the burglaries for two separate reasons — to steal and to commit arson — it is not double jeopardy to prosecute him on two counts of burglary. The claim is without merit.

Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

The standard for ineffective assistance of counsel in New Mexico was changed from the old test of a “sham and mockery” to that of whether defense counsel exercised the skill of a reasonably competent attorney. State v. Orona, 97 N.M. 232, 638 P.2d 1077 (1982); State v. McGuinty, 97 N.M. 360, 639 P.2d 1214 (Ct.App.1982). Orona explained that the change in the language articulating the standard of ineffective assistance was simply a formalization of recent trends in the case law, even though the “sham and mockery” standard was nominally still the rule until Orona and McGuinty. Defendant has the burden of showing both the incompetence of his attorney and the proof of prejudice. McGuinty. Further, absent a showing by defendant, counsel is presumed competent. State v. Moser, 78 N.M. 212, 430 P.2d 106 (1967). In considering an ineffectiveness claim, the entire proceeding must be considered as a whole. State v. French, 92 N.M. 94, 582 P.2d 1307 (Ct.App.1978); State v. Kincheloe, 87 N.M. 34, 528 P.2d 893 (Ct.App.1974).

In considering a claim of ineffective assistance, the duties of counsel are considered. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). These duties include loyalty, avoiding a conflict of interest, consulting with defendant on important decisions, keeping defendant informed of important developments, and using skill and knowledge to render the trial a reliable adversarial testing process. Strickland. “The benchmark for judging any claim of ineffectiveness must be whether counsel’s conduct so undermined the proper functioning of the adversarial process that the trial cannot be relied on as having produced a just result.” Strickland. See also United States v. Cronic, 466 U.S. 648, 104 S.Ct. 2039, 80 L.Ed.2d 657 (1984).

Cases in New Mexico that have found ineffective assistance of counsel involved conflict of interest (State v. Aguilar, 87 N.M. 503, 536 P.2d 263 (Ct.App.1975)), the failure to sufficiently instruct client so that a guilty plea could not have been freely given (State v. Kincheloe), and a cumulation of eight instances of deficient attorney performance (State v. Pitts, 700 P.2d 650 (1985)). In State v. Luna, 92 N.M. 680, 594 P.2d 340 (Ct.App.1979), this Court remanded a matter for determination of whether failure to file a pretrial motion concerning a conspiracy charge, which either had been dismissed or upon which co-conspirators had been acquitted, constituted-ineffective assistance of counsel.

a. Failure to tender a proper instruction on defense of inability to form specific intent

Defense counsel failed to request a proper instruction on the defense of inability to form specific intent. Instruction Number 10, the instruction given the jury, does not comply with the use instruction which requires that the instruction “[rjepeat the applicable intent to do a further act or achieve a further consequence from the essential elements instruction of the crime.” NMSA 1978, UJI Crim. 41.11 (Repl.Pamp.1982). State v. Kendall, 90 N.M. 236, 561 P.2d 935 (Ct.App.1977), considered this requirement. In Kendall, the defendant complained that UJI Crim. 41.11 was not given following each of the kidnapping counts, but instead followed all the kidnapping counts. We held that the “application of a specific intent instruction to several counts involving the same specific intent crime was not a substantial modification of UJ.I.Crim. 41.11.” The complaint of defendant in this case is of greater magnitude than the alleged error in Kendall.

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State v. Talley, 702 P.2d 353, 103 N.M. 33 (N.M. Ct. App. 1985).

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