State v. Valencia

2010 NMCA 005, 224 P.3d 659, 147 N.M. 432
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 2, 2009
Docket28,140
StatusPublished
Cited by47 cases

This text of 2010 NMCA 005 (State v. Valencia) 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. Valencia, 2010 NMCA 005, 224 P.3d 659, 147 N.M. 432 (N.M. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

OPINION

SUTIN, Judge.

{1} The State of New Mexico appeals the district court’s order granting Defendant Manuel Valencia’s motion to dismiss on speedy trial grounds. We hold that Defendant’s right to a speedy trial was not violated.

BACKGROUND

{2} Defendant was arrested on December 22, 2005. A complaint charging him with aggravated burglary, a second degree felony, was filed in magistrate court the same day. Defendant was indicted for aggravated burglary on January 20, 2006. He was arraigned on January 31, 2006, released on a $4000 cash bond on February 2, 2006, and required to wear an ankle monitor until May 2, 2006. In its arraignment order, the court set a pretrial conference for April 7, 2006, a docket call for May 9, 2006, and a jury trial for May 11, 2006.

{3} At the April 7, 2006, pretrial conference, the State requested a twenty-day continuance of the pretrial conference because it had not yet received information that it needed before determining whether to suggest a plea. Defendant agreed with the continuance, and the district court granted a twenty-day continuance. When defense counsel stated that he had not yet gone to pick up discovery from the prosecutor’s office, the court urged counsel to get that done and to file any motions “as quickly as you can.”

{4} The State had its witnesses subpoenaed and was ready for the May 11, 2006, trial. At the May 9, 2006, docket call, Defendant asked for a continuance of 120 days to allow him more time to recover some of the stolen goods. The State agreed to the continuance on the understanding that “Defendant will waive any time limitations and speedy trial concerns to effectuate more time to recover those items.” Defense counsel responded, “Well, that’s our, agreement, your Honor. We would ask the court to continue this matter so we could complete some of the arrangements from the plea that [the prosecutor] described.” On August 2, 2006, the court set a plea hearing for September 7, 2006.

{5} Under the terms of a proposed plea agreement discussed at the September 7, 2006, plea hearing, Defendant was to plead guilty to the lesser-ineluded offense of third degree residential burglary and receive a suspended three-year sentence, instead of facing a possible nine-year sentence for the second degree felony of aggravated burglary. Further, Defendant would continue to pay restitution and would continue efforts to recover stolen property. The prosecutor informed the district court that the information provided by Defendant was not sufficient for a search warrant, and no stolen property had been recovered. The prosecutor nevertheless recommended that the court accept the plea agreement. Defense counsel stated that Defendant would have to make restitution of over $12,000, that he could not do so if he were incarcerated, and that probation was appropriate to allow Defendant to continue his efforts to recover the stolen property.

{6} The victim of the burglary addressed the court at the plea hearing. She stated that some of the items stolen had sentimental value, that no stolen items had been recovered during the four-month continuance, and that she opposed the plea agreement. Troubled that Defendant had not been successful in facilitating recovery of any of the stolen goods, the court decided that probation would not likely enable Defendant to ever make significant restitution. The court suggested that the plea agreement appeared to be unduly favorable to Defendant by allowing only three years probation, while the original charge of the second degree felony of residential burglary was a serious one, and no stolen property had been recovered. Defense counsel responded that Defendant would continue to cooperate with authorities to recover stolen items. The court gave Defendant another thirty days to work toward recovery of stolen items and for the court to determine whether to accept the plea agreement based on whether further efforts were successful. On September 28, 2006, the court scheduled a plea hearing for November 9, 2006.

{7} During the November 9, 2006 plea hearing, two police investigators testified that the information Defendant had given them was very vague and did not help to locate any of the stolen items. The court stated that the postponed plea agreement was unduly generous, and the court rejected the plea agreement. On November 29, 2006, a pretrial conference was set for December 28, 2006, and a jury trial was set for February 5, 2007. At the December 28, 2006, pretrial conference, the State announced that it was ready for the scheduled trial, but Defendant stated that he was still reviewing what occurred at the September 7, 2006, plea hearing and was considering whether to ask the district court judge to recuse himself on the basis of that hearing. The court urged Defendant not to delay on deciding upon filing a motion for recusal and promised to act quickly on any defense motion.

{8} On January 5, 2007, Defendant filed a motion requesting recusal. This motion was based entirely on statements made by the court at the September 7, 2006, plea hearing. Defendant explained that the court had heard Defendant admit he would enter a guilty plea under the plea agreement, that there was a factual basis for the charge, and that the court was troubled that Defendant had not returned any stolen property although restitution was part of the plea agreement.

{9} Although the case was to be tried by a jury, the court filed a notice of voluntary recusal on January 17, 2007. The case was reassigned to another judge on February 26, 2007, but apparently in April 2007, that judge was forbidden to hear criminal cases because of a conflict of interest. The State filed a motion on April 17, 2007, to assign a new judge. The ease was reassigned to a third judge on May 1, 2007, who on May 11, 2007, granted the State’s request for an extension of time pursuant to Rule 5-604(C) NMRA to August 8, 2007. On July 2, 2007, the court set a pretrial conference for September 4, 2007, and a jury trial for October 9, 2007. On August 2, 2007, our Supreme Court granted a Rule 5-604 extension to December 6, 2007.

{10} On August 20, 2007, Defendant filed a motion to dismiss on the ground of a speedy trial violation. On August 31, 2007, a hearing on this motion to dismiss was set for September 4, 2007. During the September 4, 2007, hearing the State was given ten days to respond to Defendant’s motion to dismiss. On September 13, 2007, the State filed a response to Defendant’s motion. On September 26, 2007, the district court issued a decision letter holding that Defendant’s speedy trial right had been violated and dismissed the case. According to the court, which considered the total lapse of time to be a twenty-one-month delay from arrest on December 22, 2005, to October 9, 2007, nine and one-half months from May 9, 2006, to February 26, 2007, was attributable to Defendant because he “played an active role in this delay.” This left an eleven-and-one-half-month delay attributable to the State, which was a period that exceeded “the [nine] months [permissible] for a simple case by approximately 30%.” The court thereafter entered a formal order of dismissal on October 10, 2007, and the State appealed.

DISCUSSION

I. Speedy Trial

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Luis A. Ramirez
2025 WI 28 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 2025)
State v. Calvillo
New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2025
State v. Villalobos
New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2024
State v. Zamora
New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2024
State v. Begaye
New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2023
State v. Henry
New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2023
State v. Castillo
New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2023
State v. Ojeda-Lira
New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2023
State v. Kleinegger
New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2021
State v. Trujillo
New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2020
State v. Lewis
New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2020
State v. Lukasik
New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2020
State v. Serna
New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2019
State v. Vallejos
New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2019
State v. Jacquez
New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2018
State v. Tapia
New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2017
State v. Helt
New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2017
State v. Brown
2017 NMCA 46 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2017)
State v. Baldonado
New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2017
State v. Morgan
New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2016

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2010 NMCA 005, 224 P.3d 659, 147 N.M. 432, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-valencia-nmctapp-2009.