State v. Chadwick-McNally, NO. S-1-SC-36127

• Docket Nº: NO. S-1-SC-36127
• Citation: 414 P.3d 326
• Case Date: February 22, 2018
• Court: Supreme Court of New Mexico

414 P.3d 326

STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
Shanah CHADWICK-MCNALLY, Defendant-Appellant.

NO. S-1-SC-36127

Supreme Court of New Mexico.

Filing Date: February 22, 2018

Bennett J. Baur, Chief Public Defender, Mary Barket, Assistant Appellate Defender, Santa Fe, NM, for Appellant.

Hector H. Balderas, Attorney General, M. Victoria Wilson, Assistant Attorney General, Santa Fe, NM, for Appellee.

NAKAMURA, Chief Justice

{1} Defendant Shanah Chadwick-McNally is charged with an open count of first-degree murder and faces a potential sentence of life without the possibility of release or parole (LWOP). She argues in this interlocutory appeal that, due to her possible LWOP sentence, she must be afforded the heightened procedural protections that apply when the State seeks the death penalty. See, e.g. , Rule 5-704 NMRA (setting forth procedures that must be followed in death penalty cases).

{2} We hold that death penalty procedures do not apply in this case for the simple reason that "[t]he extraordinary penalty of death" is not implicated. See, e.g. , State v. Martinez , 2002-NMSC-008, ¶ 8, 132 N.M. 32, 43 P.3d 1042 ("The extraordinary penalty of death demands heightened scrutiny of its imposition."). Consequently, we agree with the district court that Rule 5-704 does not apply and that Defendant is not entitled to a hearing under State v. Ogden , 1994-NMSC-029, 118 N.M. 234, 880 P.2d 845, to test whether the alleged aggravating circumstances are supported by probable cause. We also agree that the Capital Felony Sentencing Act (the Act) as amended in 2009 neither requires nor prohibits bifurcated guilt and sentencing proceedings. NMSA 1978, §§ 31-20A-1 to -6 (1979, as amended through 2009). Lastly, we conclude that the Act precludes consideration of evidence of mitigating circumstances for sentencing purposes. We affirm and remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I. BACKGROUND

{3} The State charged Defendant with an open count of first-degree murder, a "capital felony," see NMSA 1978, § 30-2-1(A) (1994), and with one count each of first-degree kidnapping, robbery, and conspiracy to commit robbery. The charging document specifically alleged two aggravating circumstances related to the first-degree murder charge: (1) Defendant committed the murder with the intent to kill in the commission of or attempt to commit kidnapping, and (2) Defendant committed the murder for the purpose of preventing the victim from testifying about the crime. See § 31-20A-5 (setting forth seven aggravating circumstances for which a defendant found guilty of a capital felony shall be sentenced to LWOP under Section 31-20A-2).

{4} The State later sought guidance about whether the procedures that apply in death penalty proceedings would be required in Defendant's case, in which the State is seeking an LWOP sentence. The State argued that death penalty procedures are inapplicable because Rule 5-704 applies only to death penalty cases and because the 2009 amendments to the Act repealed most of the procedural protections that had applied when the death penalty was in force, including bifurcated guilt and sentencing proceedings and the consideration of mitigating circumstances. The State conceded, however, that "prosecutors in other New Mexico judicial districts ... have apparently been utilizing death penalty procedures and Rule 5-704 in LWOP cases."

{5} After the pretrial conference, the district court issued an order holding that death penalty procedures do not apply in Defendant's

414 P.3d 328

case and that Defendant is precluded from presenting evidence of mitigating circumstances to the jury. The court also found that the order involved "a controlling question of law as to whether defendants in capital felony cases facing the possibility of life without parole should be afforded the procedural safeguards provided, under Rule 5-704 or other law, to defendants facing a possible death sentence."

{6} Defendant filed an application for interlocutory appeal under Rule 12-203(A) NMRA, which we granted. We have jurisdiction under Article VI, Section 2 of the New Mexico Constitution and NMSA 1978, Section 39-3-3(A)(3) (1972). See State v. Smallwood , 2007-NMSC-005, ¶ 11, 141 N.M. 178, 152 P.3d 821 (holding that this Court has "jurisdiction over interlocutory appeals in situations where a defendant may possibly be sentenced to life imprisonment or death").

II. DISCUSSION

{7} Our analysis proceeds in two parts. We first briefly review the 2009 amendments to the Act and Rule 5-704. We then address Defendant's arguments about the procedures that must be followed when the State seeks an LWOP sentence.

A. The 2009 Amendments to the Act and Rule 5-704

{8} New Mexico abolished the death penalty in 2009 for crimes committed on or after July 1, 2009. See 2009 N.M. Laws, ch. 11, §§ 5-7. In place of the death penalty, the 2009 law established a new maximum sentence for defendants convicted of a capital felony: "life imprisonment without possibility of release or parole[,]" abbreviated in this opinion as LWOP. Section 31-20A-2; see also NMSA 1978, § 31-21-10(C) (2009) ("An inmate of an institution who was sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of release or parole is not eligible for parole and shall remain incarcerated for the entirety of the inmate's natural life.").

{9} The 2009 legislation also repealed much of the Act as it had existed when the death penalty was in force. See 2009 N.M. Laws, ch. 11, § 5 (repealing Sections 31-20A-1, -2.1 through -4, and -6). The repealed provisions guaranteed certain procedural safeguards for defendants who faced a possible death sentence, including separate, bifurcated guilt and sentencing proceedings; the weighing of aggravating and mitigating circumstances to determine whether the defendant should be sentenced to death or life imprisonment; and automatic appellate review of any case in which the defendant was sentenced to death. See generally §§ 31-20A-1 to -6 (1979, as amended through 1991). New Mexico originally adopted these safeguards after the United States Supreme Court held that statutes with similar protections "withstood constitutional scrutiny" in death penalty proceedings. See State v. Garcia , 1983-NMSC-008, ¶ 25, 99 N.M. 771, 664 P.2d 969 (noting that Sections 31-20A-1 to -6 "were modeled after similar statutes ... [that] have withstood constitutional scrutiny by the United States Supreme Court").

{10} As a result of the 2009 law, the Act now consists of just two provisions. Section 31-20A-5 sets forth the aggravating circumstances that must be proven, in addition to the defendant's guilt of the underlying capital felony, if the State chooses to seek an LWOP sentence. And Section 31-20A-2 prescribes how a defendant convicted of a capital felony shall be sentenced—whether to life imprisonment or LWOP—based on a finding of at least one aggravating circumstance.

{11} Death penalty proceedings are also subject to Rule 5-704. The rule incorporates the procedures formerly required under the Act when the death penalty was in effect, see, e.g. , Rule 5-704(D)(1) (providing that the procedures set forth in Section 31-20A-1 shall be followed unless the defendant requests separate juries for trial and sentencing purposes), and imposes additional procedures that must be followed when the state seeks the death penalty. E.g. , Rule 5-704(C) ("The defendant in a death penalty case must be represented by at least two (2) attorneys....").

{12} This Court amended Rule 5-704 shortly after the death penalty was abolished. In re Death Penalty Sentencing Jury Rules , 2009-NMSC-052, 147 N.M. 302, 222 P.3d 674. In our order approving the amendments, we acknowledged that the death penalty

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had been abolished, but we also noted that "the death penalty remains a sentencing option for a limited number of cases alleging crimes committed before July 1, 2009." Id. So, in response to "concerns expressed by the Governor, the Legislature, and others regarding the death penalty system in New Mexico," we approved amendments to Rule 5-704 that established additional procedures that apply in death penalty proceedings. Id. ; e.g. , Rule 5-704(D) (setting forth procedures for "separate trial and sentencing juries" upon notice from a defendant who "may be punished upon conviction by the penalty of death"). Notably, the amended rule makes no reference to an LWOP sentence.

B. Whether Death Penalty Procedures Apply in This Case

{13} With this context in hand, we turn to the four issues...