State v. Dominguez

• Decision Date: 21 August 2007
• Docket Number: No. 26,628.,26,628.
• Citation: 168 P.3d 761,2007 NMCA 132
• Parties: STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Tommy DOMINGUEZ, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: Court of Appeals of New Mexico

168 P.3d 761

2007 NMCA 132

STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Tommy DOMINGUEZ, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 26,628.

Court of Appeals of New Mexico.

August 21, 2007.

Gary K. King, Attorney General, Santa Fe, NM, M. Anne Kelly, Assistant Attorney General, Albuquerque, NM, for Appellant.

John Bigelow, Chief Public Defender, J.K. Theodosia Johnson, Assistant Appellate Defender, Santa Fe, NM, for Appellee.

OPINION

SUTIN, Chief Judge.

{1} The State appeals from a district court order dismissing the charges against Defendant for failing to bring Defendant to trial within six months of the date of his arraignment in violation of Rule 5-604(B)(1) NMRA. One day after the six-month time period expired, the State filed a petition for an extension to commence trial, pursuant to the procedure that authorizes late extension requests, but only in exceptional circumstances. See Rule 5-604(E). The State challenges the district court's ruling that no exceptional circumstances justified the late petition for extension and argues that the district court's dismissal constitutes a hypertechnical application of the six-month rule that is not supported by the equities in this case. This appeal requires us to review for the first time a district court's application of the "exceptional-circumstances" requirement to excuse an untimely petition to extend trial commencement. See id. We determine that exceptional circumstances do not exist in this case and that the equities do not demand a more liberal application of the six-month rule. Accordingly, we affirm the district court's dismissal.

I. BACKGROUND

{2} Generally, the parties agree on the facts material to our analysis of the issues. On July 8, 2005, Defendant was arraigned on charges of forgery, attempted forgery, and resisting, evading, or obstructing an officer. In this case, the arraignment date is the undisputed triggering event for the running of the six-month period, requiring trial to commence by Monday, January 9, 2006. See Rule 5-604(B)(1). The trial date was scheduled for November 30, 2005. Due to a scheduling conflict on November 30, the district court vacated the trial and reset it for an unspecified date. On December 29, 2005, the district court assigned the new trial date for March 15, 2006, over two months past the expiration of the rule period.

{3} In anticipation of filing a petition for extension before the end of the six-month period to accommodate the late trial date, the prosecutor called defense counsel on January 9, 2006, the last day of the rule period, in order to represent in writing Defendant's position in the petition. Defense counsel returned the prosecutor's phone call at 4:05 p.m. on the same day, five minutes after the district court clerk's office closed. Defendant expressed opposition to the extension. The State contends that it was forced to file the petition for extension the next day, January 10, 2006, one day late, in an effort to comply with Rule 5-120(C) NMRA. "The moving party shall determine whether or not a motion will be opposed. If the motion will not be opposed, an order initialed by opposing counsel shall accompany the motion." Id.

{4} On January 20, 2006, the district court granted the State's request for an extension with the mistaken belief that Defendant had concurred in the petition. On February 13, 2006, Defendant filed two motions to dismiss: one claiming a six-month rule violation and the other claiming a speedy trial violation. In the motions, Defendant represented that he was not served with the State's petition until January 23, 2006, three days after the extension was granted. The district court held a hearing on the motions, and issued a letter ruling which found that the State failed to establish that exceptional circumstances existed as required by Rule 5-604's provision for untimely petitions to extend the time for trial commencement, and further found that the court therefore lacked authority to grant the opposed petition. The district court entered an order of dismissal from which the State now appeals.

II. DISCUSSION

{5} On appeal, the State argues that the district court's dismissal resulted from an overly technical application of the six-month rule that is not supported by case law or justified by the equities of this case. As the basis for its argument, the State contends the following: the extension was for good cause, undisputedly required to accommodate the district court's heavy docket; the State would have timely filed the petition for extension but for defense counsel's delayed response; the State was burdened by a heavy caseload at the time it requested the extension; and Defendant acquiesced in the delay, or otherwise failed to adequately protect his right to a timely trial, and also suffered no prejudice. We are not persuaded that the State's argument demonstrates exceptional circumstances, nor are we persuaded that Defendant acquiesced in the extension, resulting in a technical dismissal.

Six-Month Rule and Standard of Review

{6} Rule 5-604 "is a bright-line rule, designed to assure prompt disposition of criminal cases." State v. Jaramillo, 2004-NMCA-041, ¶ 1, 135 N.M. 322, 88 P.3d 264 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted); see State v. Guzman, 2004-NMCA-097, ¶ 9, 136 N.M. 253, 96 P.3d 1173. The rule "requires a defendant's trial to commence within one-hundred eighty-two days of a triggering event, absent permissible extensions." State v. Carreon, 2006-NMCA-145, ¶ 6, 140 N.M. 779, 149 P.3d 95 (citing Rule 6-506(B)(E) NMRA of the Rules of Criminal Procedure for the Magistrate Courts), cert. granted, 2006-NMCERT-011, 140 N.M. 846, 149 P.3d 943. Where the State fails to bring a defendant to trial within the applicable period, given any extensions granted under the rule, "the information or indictment filed against such person shall be dismissed with prejudice." Rule 5-604(F) (emphasis added). This Court has interpreted the time limit for commencement of trial within the applicable period, not as jurisdictional, but as mandatory, upon a defendant's appropriate invocation of the right to a timely trial. See Carreon, 2006-NMCA-145, ¶ 6, 140 N.M. 779, 149 P.3d 95; Guzman, 2004-NMCA-097, ¶ 9, 136 N.M. 253, 96 P.3d 1173. Although the time limit in the rule is described as "bright-lined" and "mandatory," our case law has also created a recognized easing of application by requiring the courts to apply the rule with common sense to avoid effecting a hypertechnical dismissal. See Jaramillo, 2004-NMCA-041, ¶¶ 1, 8-17, 135 N.M. 322, 88 P.3d 264 (addressing the blurred line created by the conflicting policies underlying how to apply the rule and reviewing cases that applied a less technical view of the time limit); see also State v. Lobato, 2006-NMCA-051, ¶¶ 28-30, 139 N.M. 431, 134 P.3d 122 (interpreting both the literal meaning of the rule and the policy against technical dismissals, without the use of common sense, to affirm the denial of dismissal where there was an improperly granted mistrial).

{7} Consistent with the duality of the policies underlying application of the six-month rule, a permissible extension for trial may be obtained under the rule for good cause shown even outside of the six-month period. See Rule 5-604(E). However, the extension must be sought by a petition filed "within ten (10) days after the expiration of the applicable time limits" and only where the untimeliness of the petition "is based on exceptional circumstances beyond the control of the state or trial court." Id.; see State v. Sandoval, 2003-NMSC-027, ¶ 11, 134 N.M. 453, 78 P.3d 907 (confirming that "petitions to extend may be filed up to ten days after the six-month rule has expired for exceptional circumstances beyond the control of the State or the trial court").

{8} We review the district court's application of the six-month rule de novo. See Carreon, 2006-NMCA-145, ¶ 5, 140 N.M. 779, 149 P.3d 95.

Exceptional Circumstances

{9} Our only direct guidance for construing what is contemplated by the provision in Rule 5-604(E) for "exceptional circumstances beyond the control of the state or trial court" is provided by the committee commentary to the rule. The commentary states that "[i]t is believed that exceptional circumstances would include the death or illness of the judge, prosecutor or defense attorney immediately preceding the commencement of the trial which was to commence the day prior to the expiration of the six-month trial requirement."

{10} There is an analogous procedural misstep, an untimely notice of appeal, that also must be justified by exceptional circumstances due to the mandatory nature of a timely appeal. See Trujillo v. Serrano, 117 N.M. 273, 276, 871 P.2d 369, 372 (1994) (balancing the policies against procedural formalities that deny a right to appeal with the requirement of a timely appeal to properly invoke appellate jurisdiction). We have had more opportunities to develop what may constitute exceptional circumstances for untimely notices of appeal. Because a timely notice of appeal is a mandatory precondition to the exercise of our jurisdiction, we will excuse an untimely appeal only in exceptional circumstances beyond the control of the parties, which we have determined would include errors on the part of the court. See id. at 276-78, 871 P.2d at 372-74 (remanding for a determination of whether the actions of the court caused the party to file the untimely appeal); see also State v. Upchurch, 2006-NMCA-076, ¶ 5, 139 N.M. 739, 137 P.3d 679 (observing that, where an appeal is filed untimely by the State, we do not presume the effective assistance of counsel and "we rigidly enforce the mandatory time limits for filing the notice of appeal" in the absence of exceptional circumstances). In addition, we have entertained an untimely appeal where the appellant reasonably relied on case law indicating that the probate court order, from which the party should have timely appealed,...