State v. Tufts

CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 31, 2016
Docket33,419
StatusUnpublished

This text of State v. Tufts (State v. Tufts) 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. Tufts, (N.M. Ct. App. 2016).

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 Please see Rule 12-405 NMRA for restrictions on the citation of unpublished memorandum opinions.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. 33,419

5 ROBERT GEORGE TUFTS,

6 Defendant-Appellant.

7 APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF DOÑA ANA COUNTY 8 Marci Beyer, District Judge

9 Hector H. Balderas, Attorney General 10 M. Anne Kelly, Assistant Attorney General 11 Santa Fe, NM

12 for Appellee

13 Bennett J. Baur, Chief Public Defender 14 Kimberly Chavez Cook, Assistant Appellate Defender 15 Santa Fe, NM

16 for Appellant

17 MEMORANDUM OPINION

18 SUTIN, Judge. 1 {1} Defendant Robert George Tufts was convicted of criminal sexual

2 communication with a child, contrary to NMSA 1978, Section 30-37-3.3 (2007). We

3 initially heard this case and issued an opinion reversing Defendant’s conviction on the

4 ground that the statute under which Defendant was prosecuted did not apply to his

5 conduct. State v. Tufts (Tufts I), 2015-NMCA-075, ¶¶ 1, 12-18, 355 P.3d 32

6 (concluding that Section 30-37-3.3 did not prohibit Defendant’s conduct because he

7 did not “send” the images to Child when he transferred images via a secure digital

8 (SD) card and hand-delivered the card to Child). That opinion was reversed by the

9 Supreme Court in State v. Tufts (Tufts II), 2016-NMSC-020, ¶¶ 8-10, ___ P.3d ___

10 (rejecting the New Mexico Court of Appeals’ interpretation of the term “send” and

11 concluding that “confin[ing] the definition of ‘sending’ to encompass only electronic

12 transmissions . . . would frustrate the purpose of the legislation”). The case was

13 remanded to this Court for further consideration of the remaining issues on appeal. Id.

14 ¶ 10. In his remaining issues on appeal, Defendant asserts: (1) because he was in

15 custody but had not been given warnings pursuant to Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S.

16 436 (1966), the district court erred when it refused to suppress Defendant’s statements

17 made to police detectives; and (2) the jury was instructed with a patently erroneous

18 definition of “obscene” resulting in fundamental error.

2 1 {2} We affirm the district court’s denial of Defendant’s motion to suppress because

2 we conclude that Defendant was not subject to a custodial interrogation when he was

3 interviewed by police detectives, and therefore the detectives were not required to

4 notify Defendant of his Miranda rights. We also conclude that the instruction

5 provided to the jury regarding the definition of “obscene” did not result in

6 fundamental error.

7 BACKGROUND

8 {3} Much of the relevant factual background regarding the relationship between

9 Defendant and Child, as well as the procedural history of Defendant’s case, is detailed

10 in Tufts I, 2015-NMCA-075, ¶¶ 2-7. Additional facts regarding the remaining issues

11 on appeal are set forth as needed in this Opinion.

12 {4} After conducting a forensic interview of Child, Las Cruces Police Department

13 Detective Rudy Sanchez asked Defendant to come to the police station for

14 questioning. Defendant agreed, and on March 16, 2012, he voluntarily arrived at the

15 police station for an interview. Upon arriving, Defendant was escorted to a secure area

16 of the station, and Detective Sanchez and his partner, Detective Michael Garcia, began

17 to interview Defendant. At the beginning of the interview, Defendant was told that he

18 was not under arrest and that he was free to leave at any time. He was informed that

19 the door to the interview room would remain closed during the interview but that it

3 1 was only closed to provide privacy. Defendant was informed that he did not need to

2 tell the detectives anything or answer any of their questions.

3 {5} During the course of the interview, Defendant denied being concerned about

4 going to jail. When asked about Defendant’s last communication with Child,

5 Defendant indicated that he had texted with her two days prior, he had not

6 communicated with her since then, and he presumed the detectives had confiscated her

7 phone because he had not heard from her. Detective Sanchez reminded Defendant that

8 deleted files could be retrieved from the phone and asked for consent to search

9 Defendant’s phone. Defendant agreed to the search. Detective Sanchez then disclosed

10 to Defendant that he had in fact spoken to Child and that they had possession of

11 Child’s phone but that they needed Defendant’s consent to search the phone because

12 he had paid for the phone. Defendant appears to have hesitated somewhat but then

13 agreed to having Child’s phone searched by the detectives. Detective Sanchez then

14 asked Defendant what was going to be on the phone, to which Defendant responded

15 “that’s where the . . . problem’s gonna be.” He then admitted to sending pictures of

16 his nude penis and one or more sexual videos of himself. He also admitted that he

17 knew sending the pictures was wrong because he “looked it up.” He also explained

18 to the detectives his process of transferring the video to Child’s phone by switching

19 the SD cards between phones. The detectives then presented Defendant with a consent

4 1 authorization form to search both phones and asked Defendant to review and sign it.

2 Defendant hesitated, indicating that his phone was the primary way of contacting his

3 children. He then began to cry, and the detectives reminded Defendant that he was

4 going to walk out of the interview at its conclusion, to which Defendant stated, “that’s

5 not my concern.” Instead, Defendant stated that his concern was not being able to

6 communicate with Child and “losing her.”

7 {6} Approximately forty-seven minutes after beginning the interview and

8 immediately after expressing his concern about losing contact with Child, Defendant

9 began to have a seizure. The detectives requested medical assistance, and after the

10 seizure subsided, Defendant explained that he has had seizures since he was a child

11 and that they are triggered by stress. Once emergency personnel arrived, a medic

12 asked Defendant what triggered the episode, to which Defendant replied, “just being

13 really stressed,” and Detective Sanchez opined, “the conversations we were having”

14 caused the stress. Defendant was evaluated but declined further medical treatment. He

15 reported that his last seizure was the previous night.

16 {7} After the medics left, Detective Sanchez asked if Defendant was confused or

17 disoriented, to which Defendant responded that he understood where he was, who he

18 was speaking with, and the allegations discussed. Detective Sanchez explained that

19 he wanted to make sure that Defendant recalled giving consent to search the phones.

5 1 Defendant asked what would happen if he did not remember giving consent, to which

2 the detectives responded that they would take custody of the phones and obtain a

3 search warrant. Defendant expressed concern that not consenting would “make[]

4 things more difficult” and would look bad.

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State v. Tufts, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-tufts-nmctapp-2016.