State v. Williams

CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 20, 2014
Docket31,773
StatusUnpublished

This text of State v. Williams (State v. Williams) 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. Williams, (N.M. Ct. App. 2014).

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 Please see Rule 12-405 NMRA for restrictions on the citation of unpublished memorandum opinions.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. 31,773

5 MYRON WILLIAMS,

6 Defendant-Appellant.

7 APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF CURRY COUNTY 8 Stephen K. Quinn, District Judge

9 Gary K. King, Attorney General 10 Santa Fe, NM 11 Sri Mullis, Assistant Attorney General 12 Albuquerque, NM

13 for Appellee

14 Jorge A. Alvarado, Chief Public Defender 15 Carlos Ruiz de la Torre, Assistant Appellate Defender 16 Santa Fe, NM

17 for Appellant

18 MEMORANDUM OPINION

19 ZAMORA, Judge.

20 {1} Defendant Myron Williams appeals his conviction for aggravated battery

21 against a household member, contrary to NMSA 1978, Section 30-3-16(C) (2008). 1 [RP 106] Pursuant to State v. Franklin, 1967-NMSC-151, ¶ 9, 78 N.M. 127, 428 P.2d

2 982, and State v. Boyer, 1985-NMCA-029, ¶ 24, 103 N.M. 655, 712 P.2d 1, Defendant

3 raises three issues on appeal: (1) that prosecutorial misconduct deprived him of a fair

4 trial; (2) that the district court erred in admitting photographs of Victim’s injuries

5 taken four days after the incident; and (3) that the district court erred in allowing a

6 police officer to testify as an expert regarding whether Victim had been injured in a

7 manner that could cause great bodily harm.- We affirm.

8 BACKGROUND

9 {2} On December 2, 2010, Victim returned home from school and was upset to find

10 that Defendant, who was her live-in boyfriend, had failed to wash some dirty pots. The

11 couple began to argue. The argument escalated and after it became physical, Victim

12 called 911.

13 {3} Responding to the call, Officer Timothy Orum arrived at the scene, spoke with

14 both Victim and Defendant, and took photographs of visible injuries on Victim.

15 Officer Orum took Defendant into custody. Defendant was later charged with

16 aggravated battery on a household member and false imprisonment.

17 {4} At trial, Victim testified that at one point during the altercation, Defendant was

18 on top of her, choking her with one hand and punching her with the other. She stated

2 1 that when she was able to get up she attempted to exit the residence, but Defendant

2 kicked her in the back, causing her to fall.

3 {5} Victim also testified that during their argument, she ended up falling down in

4 the bathroom. She tried to leave the bathroom, but Defendant was on top of her, and

5 with her knees to her chest, held her neck in one hand, choking her, and with the other

6 hand, punched her several times “all over.” She suffered a black eye, a broken nose,

7 and bruises. When she was able to get up and leave, Defendant kicked her in the back,

8 knocking her down as she walked out the door. Defendant gave conflicting testimony;

9 admitting that he punched Victim in the face, but denying having choked or kicked

10 her.

11 {6} Two sets of photographs depicting Victim’s injuries were admitted into

12 evidence. The first set of photographs included the photographs Officer Orum had

13 taken the night of the incident. The second set were taken four days later at Victim’s

14 aunt’s house. Photographs taken the night of the incident show that her right eye was

15 bruised and completely swollen shut, and that matter was leaking from her nose.

16 Other photographs show marks on the left side of her neck (where Defendant choked

17 her), bruises behind her right ear (Defendant punched her on the ear), on her back

18 (where Defendant kicked her), and on her arm. Four days later, Victim still had a

19 swollen black eye, and blood in the same right eye. Victim testified it took two to

3 1 three weeks for the blood in her eye to clear up. Both sets of photographs corroborated

2 Victim’s testimony and all the photographs were admitted into evidence.

3 {7} When Officer Orum testified at trial, he described his interactions with both

4 Victim and Defendant, as well as his investigation of the scene the night of the

5 argument. Officer Orum was not formally tendered, nor was he accepted as an expert

6 witness, but was permitted by the district court (over Defendant’s objection) to testify

7 regarding the nature and extent of Victim’s injuries, and to give his opinion that

8 Victim was injured in a manner that could have caused great bodily harm.

9 {8} Defendant was convicted of aggravated battery against a household member.

10 This appeal followed.

11 DISCUSSION

12 I. Prosecutorial Misconduct

13 {9} Defendant argues that prosecutorial misconduct deprived him of a fair trial

14 because the prosecutor: (1) elicited an impermissible reference to Defendant’s

15 criminal history from a State’s witness; and (2) made improper statements during

16 closing argument. We are unpersuaded.

17 A. Testimony Regarding Defendant’s Criminal History

18 {10} Generally, this Court does not tolerate prosecutors who “insist upon getting

19 before a jury inadmissible . . . facts which they hope will aid them in obtaining a

4 1 guilty verdict.” State v. Gutierrez, 1979-NMCA-016, ¶ 24, 93 N.M. 232, 599 P.2d

2 385. However, where questions posed by a prosecutor are intended to determine the

3 defendant’s demeanor and mental state, rather than to elicit inadmissible testimony,

4 any error caused by the inadvertent testimony is harmless. State v. Isiah, 1989-NMSC-

5 063, ¶ 12, 109 N.M. 21, 781 P.2d 293, overruled on other grounds by State v. Lucero,

6 1993-NMSC-064, ¶ 13, 116 N.M. 450, 863 P.2d 1071.

7 {11} In this case, the prosecutor did not ask Officer Orum about Defendant’s

8 criminal history; he asked Officer Orum to describe Defendant’s demeanor just before

9 Defendant was placed in custody. Officer Orum responded, “he was physically visibly

10 upset, he did not want to go back to jail.” Defense counsel objected and moved for a

11 mistrial. The court denied the motion, but gave the jury a curative instruction.

12 B. Improprieties in Prosecutor’s Closing Argument

13 {12} While both the prosecution and defense are permitted wide latitude during

14 closing argument, “remarks by the prosecutor must be based upon the evidence or be

15 in response to the defendant’s argument.” State v. Smith, 2001-NMSC-004, ¶ 38, 130

16 N.M. 117, 19 P.3d 254. Where a prosecutor’s statements are not based on the evidence

17 or are otherwise improper, “[o]ur ultimate determination of th[e] issue rests on

18 whether the prosecutor’s improprieties had such a persuasive and prejudicial effect on

19 the jury’s verdict that the defendant was deprived of a fair trial.” State v. Duffy, 1998-

5 1 NMSC-014, ¶ 47, 126 N.M. 132, 967 P.2d 807, overruled on other grounds by State

2 v. Tollardo, 2012-NMSC-008, ¶ 37 n.6, 275 P.3d 110.

3 {13} After reviewing the record, we conclude that the majority of the prosecutor’s

4 statements in closing argument were based on the evidence and not otherwise

5 improper.

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Bluebook (online)
State v. Williams, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-williams-nmctapp-2014.