State v. Earnest
| Decision Date | 18 March 1987 |
| Docket Number | No. 15162,15162 |
| Citation | 106 N.M. 411,1987 NMSC 23,744 P.2d 539 |
| Parties | STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Ralph R. EARNEST, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | New Mexico Supreme Court |
This case is before us on remand from the Supreme Court of the United States. In State v. Earnest, 103 N.M. 95, 703 P.2d 872 (1985), this Court held that defendant was entitled to a new trial because the trial court admitted into evidence against defendant a statement made by an accomplice who was not subject to cross-examination. In New Mexico v. Earnest, 477 U.S. 648, 106 S.Ct. 2734, 91 L.Ed.2d 539 (1986), the Supreme Court vacated our judgment and remanded for proceedings "not inconsistent with the opinion in Lee v. Illinois, 476 U.S. 530, 106 S.Ct. 2056, 90 L.Ed.2d 514 (1986)." We reverse our prior opinion and affirm defendant's conviction.
In Lee v. Illinois, the Supreme Court held that the trial court's reliance on a codefendant's confession as substantive evidence against the petitioner violated the petitioner's rights under the confrontation clause of the sixth amendment. In Lee v. Illinois, the codefendant was not subject to cross-examination. The Supreme Court reasoned that accomplices' confessions which incriminate defendants are presumptively unreliable and that the codefendant's confession did not bear sufficient independent "indicia of reliability" to rebut the presumption of unreliability.
Presumably, in the case before us, it is intended that we give the State "an opportunity to overcome the weighty presumption of unreliability attaching to codefendant statements by demonstrating that the particular statement at issue bears sufficient 'indicia of reliability' to satisfy Confrontation Clause concerns." New Mexico v. Earnest, 477 U.S. at ----, 106 S.Ct. at 2735, 91 L.Ed.2d at 540 (Rehnquist, J., concurring). Having considered the excellent briefs and oral arguments of both parties on remand, we conclude that the statement at issue bears sufficient "indicia of reliability" to satisfy Confrontation Clause concerns. We therefore hold that the trial court did not err in admitting the statement as substantive evidence against defendant.
The statement at issue was given by one Boeglin after defendant, Boeglin, and another person (Perry Conner) were arrested and charged in connection with a murder. Boeglin's statement detailed the events surrounding the murder. Boeglin admitted to having attempted to cut the victim's throat. Boeglin also stated that defendant shot the victim in the head.
At defendant's trial, Boeglin refused to testify. See State v. Earnest, 103 N.M. at 98, 703 P.2d at 875. Finding that the statement given by Boeglin was reliable, the trial court allowed it to be admitted into evidence.
Boeglin's statement was reliable. It was reliable, first, because the colloquy between Boeglin and the investigating officers reflects the fact that Boeglin was not offered any leniency in exchange for his statement. In fact, Boeglin was convicted of murder and is serving a life sentence. It was reliable, second, because the statement was strongly against Boeglin's penal interest. Boeglin admitted that it was he who tried to cut the victim's throat and it is clear from the colloquy that at the time the statement was given the wounds to the throat were though to have been the cause of death. Moreover, Boeglin was exposed to a possible sentence of death as a result of his admitted participation in a murder...
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