State v. Begay
Decision Date | 04 January 2001 |
Docket Number | No. 345, No. 346, No. 347., No. 26 |
Citation | 130 N.M. 61,17 P.3d 434 |
Parties | STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Petitioner, v. Franklin Harrison BEGAY, Defendant-Respondent. State of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Petitioner, v. Peter R. Phillips, Defendant-Respondent. State of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Petitioner, v. Lester Bitsuie, Defendant-Respondent. |
Court | New Mexico Supreme Court |
Patricia A. Madrid, Attorney General, Patricia Gandert, Assistant Attorney General, Santa Fe, NM, for Petitioner.
Phyllis H. Subin, Chief Public Defender, Lisa N. Cassidy, Assistant Appellate Defender, Santa Fe, NM, for Respondents.
D. Eric Hannum, Albuquerque, NM, for Amicus Curiae New Mexico Criminal defense Lawyers Association.
{1} The State appeals from three separate Court of Appeals decisions affirming trial court refusals to use a prior felony DWI (driving while intoxicated) conviction, see NMSA 1978, § 66-8-102 (1999), to enhance a sentence for a present non-DWI felony under the habitual offender statute, see NMSA 1978, § 31-18-17 (1993). See State v. Begay, No. 21,060, slip op. (NMCA May 2, 2000); State v. Phillips, No. 21,061, slip op. (NMCA May 2, 2000); State v. Bitsuie, No. 21,062, slip op. (NMCA May 2, 2000). We affirm.
{2} Defendants Frank Harrison Begay, Lester Bitsuie, and Peter Phillips were each convicted of a non-DWI felony in San Juan County. In each case, the State attempted to enhance Defendant's sentence pursuant to Section 31-18-17, New Mexico's habitual offender statute. In each case, the State relied on a prior fourth-degree-felony DWI conviction, pursuant to Section 66-8-102(G), as a basis for sentence enhancement. In each case, the trial judge concluded that a prior felony DWI conviction could not be used as a basis for enhancing the sentence pursuant to the habitual offender statute.
{3} The State appealed these trial court decisions. The Court of Appeals affirmed each decision, relying on our statement in State v. Anaya, 1997-NMSC-010, ¶ 33, 123 N.M. 14, 933 P.2d 223, that "it is clear ... the [L]egislature did not intend to apply Section 31-18-17 to the new felony created by Section 66-8-102(G) for sentencing purposes." See Begay, slip op. at 2; Phillips, slip op. at 2; Bitsuie, slip op. at 2.
{4} The State argues that the Court of Appeals erred in relying on Anaya for two reasons. First, the State argues that Anaya did not deal with the specific issue of whether a non-DWI felony conviction could be enhanced by a prior felony DWI conviction. Second, the State argues that Anaya "rested on a concern that the [L]egislature did not intend to create two enhancements for the same crime," a concern the State argues is not present here because the felony sought to be enhanced is not the DWI felony. The State is correct that Anaya did not deal with the specific question of whether a sentence for a present non-DWI felony could be enhanced by a prior DWI felony. Anaya presented the question of whether a sentence for a present DWI felony could be enhanced by a prior non-DWI felony. We do not believe, however, that this difference is significant in determining the outcome of these cases. Contrary to the State's assertion, our concern in Anaya was not double enhancements; we were concerned that the Legislature did not intend for a felony DWI conviction to be considered a felony for purposes of the habitual offender statute. Similarly, the resolution of these cases hinges on whether the Legislature intended for a felony DWI conviction to be considered a felony for purposes of the habitual offender statute. We now review Anaya.
933 P.2d 223 ().
933 P.2d 223 ( ). We noted that in reclassifying a fourth or subsequent DWI conviction as a felony, the Legislature had already enhanced the statutory penalty for driving while intoxicated once, and we assumed that if the Legislature intended for the penalty to be enhanced a second time by the habitual offender statute, which could add as much as eight habitualfelon years to an eighteen month maximum sentence, the Legislature would have expressly stated such an intention. See id., ¶ 31 () (citation omitted).
{8} Though our holding rested on the rule of lenity, we also expressed our view that the statutory silence of Section 66-8-102(G) and Section 31-18-17, in combination with Section 66-8-102(G)'s reference to a "jail" term rather than a "prison" term, makes it "clear that the [L]egislature did not intend to apply Section 31-18-17 to the new felony created by Section 66-8-102(G) for sentencing purposes." Anaya, 1997-NMSC-010, ¶ 33, 123 N.M. 14, 933 P.2d 223. We then invited the Legislature to clarify its intention if it disagreed with our holding.
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