State v. Trivitt

548 P.2d 442, 89 N.M. 162
CourtNew Mexico Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 17, 1976
Docket10159
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 548 P.2d 442 (State v. Trivitt) 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. Trivitt, 548 P.2d 442, 89 N.M. 162 (N.M. 1976).

Opinion

OPINION

McMANUS, Justice.

This is a direct appeal from defendant’s conviction of first degree murder and sentence of death. The case was tried to a jury in the District Court of the Eighth Judicial District, in Colfax County, on a change of venue from Union County, New Mexico.

Generally, the facts reflect that on the morning of September 5, 1973 the body of James L. Graves was discovered slain in the storeroom of his service station located approximately one mile southeast of Clayton, New Mexico. Shortly thereafter, as the result of a police radio dispatch, the defendant, Enos Larry Trivitt, and his traveling companion, Mary Alice Brown, were stopped as they drove through Dalhart, Texas. Both were arrested for the murder of Graves. Trivitt waived extradition and was turned over to Union County officials and returned to Clayton that morning.

A two-count indictment was returned by the grand jury of Union County on September 20, 1973. The trial of Trivitt was severed from that of his companion without objection. A motion for change of venue was also granted and the case was transferred to Colfax County as previously stated.

The two counts of the indictment read as follows:

1. That on or about the 5th day of September, 1973, in the County of Union, State of New Mexico, the said Enos Larry Trivitt and Mary Alice Brown did unlawfully kill and murder a human being, to-wit: James L. Graves, by stabbing him to death with a knife in the commission of a felony, to-wit: robbery.
2. That on or about the 5th day of September, 1973, in the County of Union, State of New Mexico, the said Enos Larry Trivitt and Mary Alice Brown did unlawfully commit larceny by stealing something of value, to-wit, over $100.00 in money, the property of another, to-wit, James L. Graves.

On January 3, 1974 the second count was dismissed and the trial began on January 7, 1974. The trial was completed on January 10, 1974 and, on January 11, 1974, the defendant was sentenced to be executed on May 19, 1974. This appeal followed, during which time defendant’s execution has been stayed. We reverse and remand for a new trial.

The defendant alleges ten [10] points as error in the trial proceedings. The points covered will be set out as they appear in appellant’s brief.

Point I. Imposition and carrying out of the death penalty in this case, pursuant to N.M.S.A.1953, § 40A-29-2 (1973 Supp.), constitutes cruel and unusual punishment and deprivation of liberty without due process of law, in violation of the eighth and fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution, and article II, §§ 13 and 18 of the New Mexico Constitution.

Since this case will be reversed and remanded on other grounds we will not make a decision on the constitutionality of the death penalty at this time.

Point II. The exclusion for cause of three veniremen on the grounds of their expressed attitudes toward the death penalty violated appellant’s rights under the sixth and fourteenth amendments to the Constitution of the United States.
A. The test of exclusion applied by the court below did not meet the minimum standards required by the Constitution as construed in Witherspoon v. Illinois, 391 U.S. 510, 88 S.Ct. 1770, 20 L.Ed.2d 776 (1968).

It is true, as the defendant points out, that the court in Witherspoon stated:

“Specifically, we hold that a sentence of death cannot be carried out if the jury that imposed or recommended it was chosen by excluding veniremen for cause simply because they voiced general objections to the death penalty or expressed conscientious or religious scruples against its infliction. No defendant can constitutionally be put to death at the hands of a tribunal so selected.” Id. at 522-23,88 S.Ct. at 1776.

However, in a footnote to the first sentence quoted above, the court went on to say:

“We repeat, however, that nothing we say today bears upon the power of a State to execute a defendant sentenced to death by a jury from which the only veniremen who were in fact excluded for cause were those who made unmistakably clear (1) that they would automatically vote against the imposition of capital punishment without regard to any evidence that might be developed at the trial of the case before them, or (2) that their attitude toward the death penalty would prevent them from making an impartial decision as to the defendant’s guilt.” Id. at 522 n. 21, 88 S.Ct. at 1777.

The voir dire of the three jurors referred to contained the following questions and answers, the first by a Mrs. Cook:

Q. Now, Mrs. Cook, to go a little bit farther, do you feel, at this stage in this case, the trial has not begun, you have not heard any of the evidence in the case, you know none of the facts in the case, or circumstances in this particular case, that it would be impossible for you to vote for conviction in this case, knowing a mandatory death sentence could result?
A. T could not vote guilty.
Q. You could not?
A. No way.
Q. In other words, you would just automatically have to vote against the death penalty in any case because of your feeling about the death penalty?
A. That is right.
Q. Would that mean you would vote not guilty automatically?
A. Yes.

Mrs. Lopez, another prospective juror, said:

Q. Mrs. Lopez, you have already partially answered the question perhaps, but I would like to question you a little more fully. In a proper case where the charges have been proved beyond a reasonable doubt for first degree murder, would you have any qualms or any hesitation about voting for a guilty verdict, knowing that a guilty verdict by the jury would result in a mandatory death penalty ?
A. Yes.
Q. Would you feel that because of your various feelings that you just automatically could not go for a guilty verdict knowing that the death penalty could result ?
A. (Shakes head affirmatively.)
Q. You feel that under no circumstances could you vote for a guilty verdict knowing that the death penalty could result ?
A. No, I could not.
THE COURT: Would you vote not guilty knowing that all of the proof of first degree murder had been offered beyond a reasonable doubt?
A.

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Bluebook (online)
548 P.2d 442, 89 N.M. 162, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-trivitt-nm-1976.