772 P.2d 1305 (N.M. 1989), 17956, Martinez v. State

• Judge: STOWERS and SCARBOROUGH, JJ., concur.
• Citation: 1989 -NMSC- 026,108 N.M. 382,772 P.2d 1305
• Docket Number: 17956.
• Date: 10 May 1989
• Parties: Richard Ralph MARTINEZ, Petitioner-Appellant, v. STATE of New Mexico, New Mexico Attorney General Hal Stratton, New Mexico Department of Corrections, and New Mexico State Legislature, et al., Respondents-Appellees.
• Court: New Mexico Supreme Court

Page 1305

772 P.2d 1305 (N.M. 1989)

108 N.M. 382, 1989 -NMSC- 026

Richard Ralph MARTINEZ, Petitioner-Appellant,

v.

STATE of New Mexico, New Mexico Attorney General Hal

Stratton, New Mexico Department of Corrections,

and New Mexico State Legislature, et

al., Respondents-Appellees.

No. 17956.

Supreme Court of New Mexico.

May 10, 1989

Rehearing Denied May 23, 1989.

[108 N.M. 382] Richard Ralph Martinez, Santa Fe, pro se.

Hal Stratton, Atty. Gen., Anthony Tupler, Asst. Atty. Gen., Santa Fe, for respondents-appellees.

OPINION

SOSA, Chief Justice.

On August 17, 1988, we denied the Petition for Extraordinary Writ filed by Richard Ralph Martinez. Petitioner then filed his "Petition for an Extraordinary Writ [and] Alternative Writ of Mandamus or Habeas Corpus" in the District Court of the Ninth Judicial District in Curry County. That petition was denied by the district court on August 29, 1988, and the present appeal followed. Martinez is serving a life term for first-degree murder in the state penitentiary. He contends that NMSA

Page 1306

[108 N.M. 383] 1978, Section 31-21-10(A) (Repl.Pamp.1987), denies him equal protection of the law in that it prevents him from achieving meritorious deductions from his life term before thirty years have elapsed, even though NMSA 1978, Section 33-2-34 (Repl.Pamp.1987) would otherwise permit such deductions. He contends further that an opinion of the Attorney General (AG Op. No. 86-1 (1986)), stating that meritorious deductions may not shorten the basic thirty-year term of capital felons, violates his constitutional rights by improperly usurping the legislative function, thereby violating the doctrine of separation of powers. We affirm the decision of the district court.

We have previously held that "equal protection does not prohibit classification for legislative purposes, provided that there is a rational and natural basis therefor." Martinez v. Cox, 75 N.M. 417, 421, 405 P.2d 659, 661 (1965), Gruschus v. Bureau of Revenue, 74 N.M. 775, 399 P.2d 105 (1965). In State v. Aqui, 104 N.M. 345, 721 P.2d 771, cert. denied, 479 U.S. 917, 107 S.Ct. 321, 93 L.Ed.2d 294 (1986), we addressed a similar question to the one before us: whether the denial of meritorious deductions to prisoners detained prior to sentencing violated the equal protection provisions of the Constitution when defendants confined in prison only after sentencing could avail themselves of...