Hayes v. State
| Decision Date | 15 March 1988 |
| Docket Number | No. 17396,17396 |
| Citation | 106 N.M. 806,1988 NMSC 21,751 P.2d 186 |
| Parties | Donald HAYES, Petitioner, v. STATE of New Mexico, Respondent. |
| Court | New Mexico Supreme Court |
Jacquelyn Robins, Chief Public Defender, Bruce Rogoff, Asst. Appellate Defender, Santa Fe, for petitioner.
Hal Stratton, Atty. Gen., Sharon Van Arnam, Santa Fe, for respondent.
This is a petition for writ of certiorari to the court of appeals. The court of appeals, in affirming the trial court, found that the trial court correctly determined that its jurisdiction to reduce petitioner's sentence had expired when it denied petitioner's motion 173 days after filing of the court of appeal's mandate affirming petitioner's conviction. After reviewing the court of appeals' file and argument of counsel, we reverse the court of appeals.
Petitioner's conviction for second degree murder was affirmed by the court of appeals on December 12, 1986. On January 7, 1987, within the 30-day period required by SCRA, Rule 5-801, petitioner filed his motion for modification of sentence. After certain communications between the trial court and petitioner's trial attorney--communications which are not in the record, but which appear for the first time in the petition for writ of certiorari--the motion was not heard until May 12, 1987, at which time the trial court advised petitioner that under Rule 5-801, because the 30-day period for hearing the motion had passed, the trial court had no jurisdiction to hear the motion and thus the motion was dismissed.
Petitioner makes two arguments: (1) Even though the May 12 hearing date was more than 30 days after the court of appeals had affirmed his conviction, there is a consistent policy in the federal circuits known as the "reasonable time rule" in which trial courts in their discretion may decide to hear motions to modify sentences even after the period specified by statute has run. (For a partial list of federal circuits following the reasonable time rule, see Gaertner v. United States, 763 F.2d 787, 790-91 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 1009, 106 S.Ct. 535, 88 L.Ed.2d 466 (1985)). (2) Petitioner next argues that even if the trial court properly dismissed the motion to reduce sentence, its doing so in this case deprived him of his right to due process of law because the trial court gave petitioner reasonable assurances that it would hear his motion, and then when hearing day came, the trial court suddenly changed tack and decided it lacked jurisdiction.
Rule 5-801 reads in pertinent part as follows: "The district court may reduce a sentence within thirty (30) days after * * * entry of any order or judgment of the appellate court having the effect of upholding a judgment of conviction."
As to petitioner's first challenge, this court must decide whether Rule 5-801 is jurisdictional (depriving trial courts of power to rule on any motion coming before them for hearing later than 30 days following appellate review), or whether it is discretionary (following the reasonable time rule of the federal circuits, which would allow motions filed within 30 days to be heard after 30 days if the trial court so chooses). In United States v. Addonizio, 442 U.S. 178, 189, 99 S.Ct. 2235, 2242, 60 L.Ed.2d 805 (1979), the Supreme Court spoke of the 120-day limit under the federal rule as "jurisdictional," but that case was decided on the basis of another statute, 28 U.S.C. Section 2255 (1976) (), and thus the Court's words are dictum there. Several federal courts follow the reasonable time rule, even after Addonizio, acting in a discretionary manner to rule on motions to modify a sentence when the motion is heard 120 days after a conviction is affirmed. 763 F.2d at 790-91.
As to petitioner's due process challenge, a similar challenge was addressed in Sotto v. Wainwright, 601 F.2d 184, (5th Cir.1979), cert. denied, 445 U.S. 950, 100 S.Ct. 1597, 63 L.Ed.2d 784 (1980). The fifth circuit rejected the due process challenge, holding that Florida's statute (1) advanced finality in the judicial process, (2) served the legitimate purpose of lessening the trial court's workload by requiring defendants to file motions to modify within a certain specified time limit, and (3) assured that the trial court would not usurp the...
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...may correct an illegal sentence at any time”—with an important limitation—“pursuant to Rule 5–802[.]” {26} In Hayes v. State, 106 N.M. 806, 808, 751 P.2d 186, 188 (1988), our Supreme Court held that the requirement of an earlier version of what is now Rule 5–801(B) that a motion to reduce a......
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