State v. Castillo-Sanchez

• Decision Date: 10 May 1999
• Docket Number: No. 19,273.,19,273.
• Citation: 984 P.2d 787,127 N.M. 540
• Parties: STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Gerardo CASTILLO-SANCHEZ, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Court of Appeals of New Mexico

984 P.2d 787

127 N.M. 540

STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Gerardo CASTILLO-SANCHEZ, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 19,273.

Court of Appeals of New Mexico.

May 10, 1999.

Certiorari Denied June 16, 1999.

Patricia A. Madrid, Attorney General, Anita Carlson, Assistant Attorney General, Santa Fe, for Appellee.

Liane E. Kerr, Liane E. Kerr Law Office, Albuquerque, for Appellant.

Certiorari Denied, No. 25,768, June 16, 1999.

OPINION

HARTZ, Judge.

{1} Defendant appeals his convictions on charges of attempted first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit fraud over $20,000, and attempted fraud over $20,000. He raises five issues on appeal: (1) whether his confession was admissible; (2) whether two audio-taped conversations were admissible; (3) whether the district court properly enhanced his sentence for attempted murder; (4) whether his basic sentence for attempted murder should have been 9 years instead of 15 years; and (5) whether there was sufficient evidence to support his convictions for conspiracy to commit fraud and attempted fraud. We reverse the conviction for conspiracy to commit fraud but affirm in all other respects.

I. BACKGROUND

{2} Vicente Zamarron hired Jose Reyes and Defendant to kill Zamarron's wife, Linda. Zamarron promised to pay Reyes and Defendant $50,000 for the murder with the proceeds Zamarron expected to collect from four life insurance policies he had taken out on Linda's life. Linda was murdered in her trailer. She suffered multiple blows to the head, multiple stab wounds, and strangulation. The cause of death was strangulation.

{3} Several months after the murder, Reyes and Defendant had not been paid in full by Zamarron. After consulting with Reyes, Defendant tape recorded a conversation between Zamarron and himself. The purpose was to obtain evidence implicating Zamarron in the plot and thereby prevent Zamarron from pointing the blame at Reyes and Defendant and claiming extortion by them. Later, Reyes decided to turn himself in. He hired a lawyer who contacted the authorities. At their instigation Reyes arranged a conversation with Zamarron that he recorded. {4} Reyes then cooperated with the police to lure Defendant, who lived in Mexico, back into the United States. Once Defendant crossed the border, he was arrested. During police interrogation he confessed that Zamarron offered to pay him to murder Linda and that he committed the murder eight months to a year later. He stated that he stabbed her once with a knife, choked her with a telephone cord, and hit her with a rock. He said that Reyes had no involvement with or prior knowledge of the crime.

{5} At trial, however, Defendant claimed that he had lied in the confession to protect Reyes. Although he admitted significant involvement, he denied committing the fatal acts. His account at trial was as follows: Reyes introduced Defendant to Zamarron, who wanted to hire someone to kill his wife. Defendant was willing to help Reyes so that he could get some money for himself and pay off a debt to Reyes. They talked about killing Linda by strangling her. Reyes drove him to the trailer where Zamarron and his wife lived. Taking a phone cord with him, Defendant entered the trailer by himself. The trailer was unoccupied. He looked for money that Zamarron said would be in the safe, but he found none. When Linda arrived home, she discovered him and tried to flee. In the ensuing struggle she tried to protect herself with a kitchen knife, but he forced it from her and stabbed her with it. He also kicked her in the face. As he fled the trailer, she lay motionless. He then took her car and drove to meet Reyes. He told Reyes that he had not found any money in the trailer and that he was not sure whether Linda was okay. Reyes was angry and left quickly, apparently to go back to the trailer. Reyes returned thirty to forty-five minutes later. Defendant was relieved to learn at trial that the cause of death had been strangulation, multiple blows, and stab wounds, because he had not strangled her or hit her multiple times, and he had stabbed her only once.

II. DISCUSSION

A. The Confession

{6} Prior to trial, Defendant moved to suppress his confession on the ground that it was obtained in violation of his constitutional rights. The district court rejected Defendant's arguments and denied the motion to suppress. When reviewing the denial of a motion to suppress on appeal, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the district court's decision. See State v. Munoz, 111 N.M. 118, 120, 802 P.2d 23, 25 (Ct.App.1990)

. We then determine whether the court properly applied the law when it denied the motion to suppress. See id.

{7} The interrogation of Defendant was complicated by the fact that he speaks only Spanish. The record developed at the suppression hearing shows that Defendant was initially taken into custody for interrogation by Officer Norman Rhodes. Rhodes handed Defendant a form with the Miranda rights printed in Spanish. Defendant appeared to read the form and made an affirmative nodding gesture when he finished. Because Rhodes did not understand Spanish and was not sure whether Defendant had read or understood the form, he called for Agent Jose Ramirez to act as an interpreter.

{8} Ramirez and Defendant gave conflicting accounts of what happened next. We first summarize Ramirez's version: When he arrived, he read Defendant the rights on the form. Officers Daryl Harris and Ken Christianson arrived about 90 minutes later to commence the interrogation. Harris did not participate in the questioning of Defendant and was present only to tape record the interrogation. Before the interrogation Ramirez again asked Defendant whether he understood his rights, including his right to an attorney. Ramirez told Defendant that he could have an attorney if he wanted one, but Defendant said that he did not want one. Ramirez was sure that Defendant understood his rights, that Defendant never appeared puzzled, and that Defendant knew that he could stop the questioning and ask for an attorney.

{9} In contrast, Defendant testified that while he understood some of the rights read to him, he did not understand what was said about his right to an attorney. He stated that he asked for an attorney before the questioning began and he initially thought that one of the officers was his attorney. It is unclear from the record, however, which officer he thought was his attorney. He testified that he did not realize that he had no attorney until the officers asked him whether he would help with the investigation of Zamarron.

{10} The principal evidence at the hearing was the recording of the interrogation. It reveals the following: Shortly after the questioning began, Christianson asked Defendant to tell him what happened. Defendant responded by asking, "Who, who can help me?" Ramirez then asked Defendant whether he understood his rights when he signed the form. Defendant responded yes. Ramirez reiterated that the form said that Defendant could ask for an attorney if he needed one, and Ramirez reminded Defendant that he had said that he understood his rights. Ramirez then told Christianson in English that Defendant was asking who could help him now, and that Ramirez had explained that he could ask for an attorney. Christianson told Ramirez that he wanted Defendant to know that an attorney would not change a thing but that Christianson could help Defendant with the truth. Ramirez did not tell Defendant everything that Christianson had said but told Defendant only that Christianson had said that he could help Defendant with the truth. Defendant then proceeded to confess to the murder.

{11} Near the end of the interrogation, Christianson asked Ramirez to discuss the Miranda rights again with Defendant to make sure that Defendant understood everything. Defendant acknowledged that he had read the Spanish-language form given to him by Rhodes and had signed it, but he expressed some confusion about his right to an attorney. Defendant contends that he was trying to explain to the officers that he had wanted an attorney during the interrogation and was surprised when he realized that he did not have one. Ramirez, however, testified that he understood Defendant's confusion at the end of the interview to concern whether Defendant could have an attorney to assist him in the future now that he had confessed to the crime. Ramirez was certain that Defendant understood his rights before confessing and only wanted the assistance of an attorney with whatever proceedings would follow. The transcript could be interpreted to support either version, Defendant's or Ramirez's.

{12} The district court's written order denying Defendant's motion to suppress found that "Defendant was advised of his Miranda Rights, both in writing and orally in his native Spanish language." The court acknowledged that there was a dispute regarding whether Defendant in fact had asked for the assistance of counsel, but it concluded that the credible evidence indicated that Defendant never requested the assistance of an attorney prior to or during the interview. The court also found that nothing occurred during the interview that was coercive or in any way adversely impacted the rights of Defendant. Finally, the court concluded that Defendant's statement was freely and voluntarily made.

{13} Defendant raises two challenges to the admission of his confession. First, he argues that his confession was not given voluntarily. In support of this contention, he points to the fact that he speaks only Spanish, that he signed a waiver-of-rights form before an interpreter arrived, that he had difficulty understanding the interpreter, that he thought one of the officers present at the interrogation was his lawyer, and that he asked for an attorney before the interrogation began.

{14} We disagree. The record shows that the waiver form was printed in Spanish and it...