State v. Urquizo

2012 NMCA 113, 2 N.M. 743
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 13, 2012
Docket33,847; Docket 30,337
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2012 NMCA 113 (State v. Urquizo) 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. Urquizo, 2012 NMCA 113, 2 N.M. 743 (N.M. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION

HANISEE, Judge.

{1} Defendant Guadalupe Urquizo was convicted of various crimes for the non-fatal stabbing of a correctional officer at the Curry County Detention Center with a jail-made weapon, commonly known as a “shank.” In State v. Urquizo (Urquizo I), No. 30,337, slip op. (N.M. Ct. App. Nov. 23, 2011) (mem.), we affirmed Defendant’s convictions holding that (1) sufficient evidence was presented in support of the requisite deliberate intent to kill, and (2) the convictions for attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery upon a peace officer did not violate double jeopardy based on State v. Armendariz, 2006-NMSC-036, 140 N.M. 182, 141 P.3d 526, and State v. Swick (Swick I), 2010-NMCA-098, 148 N.M. 895, 242 P.3d 462.

{2} The New Mexico Supreme Court subsequently issued a writ of certiorari in State v. Urquizo, 2012-NMCERT-001, ___ P.3d __, to review only “issue numbered two” — the double jeopardy issue. The case, however, was held in abeyance pending the outcome of State v. Swick (Swick II), 2012-NMSC-018, 279 P.3d 747. Because SwickII ultimately reversed Swick I and overruled Armendariz — thereby modifying the double jeopardy analysis we were bound to apply in Urquizo I — our Supreme Court quashed the writ of certiorari and remanded to this Court for further proceedings in light of its disposition in Swick II. See State v. Urquizo, No. 33,342 (order and mandate filed July 16, 2012). We address on remand whether Swick II changes our conclusion in our previous memorandum opinion that “Defendant’s convictions for attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery do not violate double jeopardy.” Urquizo I, No. 30,337, slip op. at 2. For the reasons that follow, we hold that it does not.

{3} The facts on appeal are undisputed. Essentially, Defendant — while imprisoned at Curry County Detention Center — attacked one of the correctional officers (Officer Casanova) during a dispute about the cancellation of his recreation period. The attack was vicious but short in duration and amounted to Defendant stabbing Officer Casanova five times with a metal shank before being subdued by another officer on duty (Officer Turvey). Both officers were struck by Defendant’s shank in the melee. A complete recitation of the event is set forth in our prior memorandum opinion. See Urquizo I, No. 30,337, slip op. at 2-4.

{4} Defendant was convicted on one count of attempted first-degree murder, contrary to NMSA 1978, Sections 30-28-1 (1963), 30-2-1 (1994); two counts of third-degree aggravated battery upon a peace officer (one count for each officer), contrary to NMSA 1978, Section 30-22-25(A) & (C) (1971); and one count of possession of a deadly weapon by a prisoner, contrary to NMSA 1978, Section 30-22-16 (1986). On appeal, Defendant raised two points of error: (1) sufficiency of the evidence regarding the intent element of attempted murder and (2) double jeopardy for the attempted murder conviction and the aggravated battery conviction for the attack on Officer Casanova. 1 After our memorandum opinion in Urquizo I, which affirmed all convictions, Defendant sought review of both issues, but our Supreme Court only granted his petition as to the double jeopardy issue. Thus, our analysis here focuses on the sole issue on remand: whether Defendant’s convictions for the attempted murder and aggravated battery of Officer Casanova violate double jeopardy in light of our Supreme Court’s recent opinion in Swick II.

{5} In Urquizo I, we characterized Defendant’s double jeopardy argument as a “double-description” claim; i.e., Defendant was convicted under two separate statutes, which may or may not be considered the same offense for double jeopardy purposes. Urquizo I, No. 30,337, slip op. at 9-10 (citing State v. O. Gutierrez, 2011-NMSC-024, ¶ 49, 150 N.M. 232, 258 P.3d 1024). We then applied the Swafford test in what is “generally a two-part inquiry for double-description claims, first analyzing whether the conduct underlying the offenses is unitary; i.e., whether the same conduct violates both statutes[] and, if so, proceeding to analyze whether the [Ljegislature intended to create separately punishable offenses.” Urquizo I, No. 30,337, slip op. at 9-10 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted).

{6} With respect to the first prong, Defendant argued that the conduct underlying his convictions for aggravated battery and attempted murder was unitary, and the State conceded the point by choosing not to challenge it on appeal. We then proceeded to the second prong — legislative intent — and determined based on binding Supreme Court and Court of Appeals caselaw that the Legislature intended separate punishment:

Controlling precedent exists with respect to [the defendant's challenge to his convictions for attempted murder and for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. In [Armendariz], our Supreme Court held that convictions for both attempted murder and for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon do not present a double jeopardy problem because the elements of the offenses are not subsumed within each other and because other factors indicate legislative intent to separately punish.

Swick I, 2010-NMCA-098, ¶ 20.

{7} Our Supreme Court in Swick II overturned that precedent, which was the basis of our analysis in Urquizo I, and held that the Legislature did not intend separate punishment. See Swick II, 2012-NMSC-018, ¶ 20 (“[T]he question before this Court is whether the Legislature authorized multiple punishments under the statutes for attempted murder and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon for the same conduct. We conclude that it did not.”). In reaching its conclusion, the Swick II Court applied the modified Blockburger analysis, as previously adopted in O. Gutierrez, 2011-NMSC-024, ¶ 58: first determining whether one crime is subsumed within the other, and then analyzing other indicia of legislative intent, such as “the social harms addressed by each statute” and the difference in punishments. Swick II, 2012-NMSC-018, ¶ 29. It concluded that “considering the State’s theory of the case, the aggravated battery elements were subsumed within the attempted murder elements” and therefore “the double jeopardy prohibition [was] violated.” Id. ¶ 27. Even so, the Court proceeded to address legislative intent to punish attempted murder and aggravated battery as separate offenses, which it concluded was ambiguous. That ambiguity, when coupled with the rule of lenity, convinced the Court to hold that multiple “convictions under the attempted murder and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon statutes arising from unitary conduct . . . cannot stand” under the double jeopardy clause. Id. ¶ 30.

{8} W e cannot discern the same commonality of elements or ambiguity in the legislative intent to punish separately with respect to the convictions before us. We do agree that the crime of attempted murder is inherently vague and requires application of the modified Blockburger test. “Under the attempted murder statutes, §§ 30-28-1 & 30-2-1, many forms of conduct can support the ‘began to do an act which constituted a substantial part of Murder’ element . . . [and is therefore] a generic, multipurpose statute that is ‘vague and unspecific,’ and [requires examination of] the [s]tate’s theory of the case . .. .” Swick II, 2012-NMSC-018, ¶ 25.

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2012 NMCA 113, 2 N.M. 743, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-urquizo-nmctapp-2012.