State v. Garcia

• Decision Date: 21 June 2005
• Docket Number: No. 28,631.,28,631.
• Citation: 116 P.3d 72,2005 NMSC 017
• Parties: STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Petitioner/Cross-Respondent, v. Reymundo Carlos GARCIA, Defendant-Respondent/Cross-Petitioner.
• Court: New Mexico Supreme Court

Page 72

116 P.3d 72

2005 NMSC 017

STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Petitioner/Cross-Respondent, v. Reymundo Carlos GARCIA, Defendant-Respondent/Cross-Petitioner.

No. 28,631.

Supreme Court of New Mexico.

June 21, 2005.

Patricia A. Madrid, Attorney General, M. Victoria Wilson, Assistant Attorney General, Santa Fe, NM, for Plaintiff-Petitioner/Cross-Respondent.

John Bigelow, Chief Public Defender, Kathleen T. Baldridge, Santa Fe, NM, for Defendant-Respondent/Cross-Petitioner.

OPINION

BOSSON, Chief Justice.

{1} We examine two issues in the context of police officers lawfully observing a gun from outside a car, and later seizing the gun from under the passenger seat. We first inquire what additional facts must the State prove, beyond the location of the gun, to establish that the passenger, a felon, is in constructive possession of a firearm. Second, we ask what additional facts justify warrantless entry into the car and seizure of the gun consistent with the New Mexico Constitution. In a divided opinion, our Court of Appeals upheld the search and seizure, but held the evidence was insufficient to sustain a conviction for being a felon in possession. We agree with the first holding but disagree that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the conviction. Accordingly, we affirm in part and reverse in part, thereby upholding the judgment of the district court.

BACKGROUND

{2} At around midnight, April 25, 2001, three police officers from the Bosque Farms Police Department and Valencia County Sheriff's Department were leaving a local gas station when they observed a car drive through the station at an extremely low rate of speed. The vehicle had a dealer demonstration tag rather than a license plate. Realizing that dealer tags were not allowed after dealership business hours, Officer Hatch pulled the vehicle over. Before the car had come to a complete stop, Defendant stepped out of the passenger side of the vehicle and slouched against the vehicle with the right side of his body hidden from view. Defendant stared at Officer Hatch with an aggressive look described as a "thousand yard stare." Officer Hatch drew his weapon at a low, ready position and ordered Defendant back into the car. Defendant did not respond to the first command but eventually returned to the car.

{3} Officer Hatch and Officer Emmons approached the car. Officer Hatch asked the driver for license, registration, and proof of insurance. The driver only had a New Mexico identification card. The officers then asked if Defendant had a valid driver's license, so that Defendant could take over for the driver. The officers ran a record check on the names of Defendant and the driver. Officer Emmons cited the driver for not having vehicle registration or insurance.

{4} When the officers approached the car again to give the citations to the driver, Officer Hatch looked through the passenger side window of the vehicle and saw what appeared to be a gun in a holster protruding from underneath the rear of the passenger seat. Once he saw the gun, Officer Hatch told Officer Emmons to stop what he was doing. Out of concern for officer safety, the officers removed the driver and Defendant from the vehicle, patted them down for weapons, handcuffed and detained them. As Defendant got out of the vehicle, Officer Hatch observed a loaded ammunition clip located on top of the passenger seat in what was described as the "palm" of the seat. The clip was five inches by one inch by one-half inch. Officer Hatch moved the seat forward to remove the gun and discovered an open beer bottle, lying directly next to the gun, with the top of the bottle pointing toward the front of the seat. The officer removed the gun, which was a loaded.22 caliber Ruger. Another officer unloaded the gun and a live round from the chamber. The ammunition clip found on Defendant's seat was determined to fit the gun located under his seat.

{5} After the officers discovered the firearm and the beer bottle, Defendant admitted to drinking in the vehicle, and volunteered that he knew he was not supposed to be around firearms because of his prior felony convictions. The officers arrested Defendant for concealing his identity because he had initially given another name to the officers. The check of Defendant's criminal history confirmed Defendant's status as a felon. The officers then arrested Defendant for being a felon in possession of a firearm, and possessing an alcoholic beverage in an open container in a vehicle. See NMSA 1978, § 30-7-16 (1987, prior to 2001 amendment); NMSA 1978, § 66-8-138 (1999, prior to 2001 amendment).

{6} Defendant challenged the constitutionality of the search. Because this was a bench trial, the parties agreed to conduct the evidentiary hearing regarding the search during the trial. The district court denied the motion to suppress because there were exigent circumstances justifying the search and found Defendant guilty on both counts. On appeal, the Court of Appeals reversed the verdict of being a felon in possession of a firearm, concluding that there was insufficient evidence to prove Defendant's possession of the firearm beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Garcia, 2004-NMCA-066, ¶ 1, 135 N.M. 595, 92 P.3d 41. However, the court found the search of the vehicle was constitutional and upheld Defendant's conviction for possession of an alcoholic beverage in an open container. Id. ¶¶ 30, 34. We granted the State's certiorari petition to review the felon-in-possession charge. Defendant filed a cross-petition claiming the search of the car was unconstitutional, and seeking to overturn the conviction for possession of an open alcoholic container. We also granted Defendant's petition.

ARGUMENT

Sufficiency of the Evidence that Defendant was a Felon in Possession

{7} We first address the sufficiency of the evidence that led to the conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Because Defendant stipulated to being a convicted felon, our inquiry rests on the sufficiency of the evidence to prove possession.

{8} The standard of proof in a criminal case, beyond a reasonable doubt, is the lens through which we judge the sufficiency of the evidence. The proper focus for that lens is State v. Garcia, 114 N.M. 269, 274, 837 P.2d 862, 867 (1992). Relying on commentators and precedent from the New Mexico and United States Supreme Courts, the Court of Appeals indicated that the burden of proof required the jury to be in "`a subjective state of near certitude of the guilt of the accused.'" Garcia, 2004-NMCA-066, ¶ 8 (quoting State v. Wynn, 2001-NMCA-020, ¶ 5, 130 N.M. 381, 24 P.3d 816). The Court of Appeals further characterized the standard as requiring proof "to a moral certainty," which it defined as "the highest degree of confidence with which an historical or physical fact can be known." Id. ¶ 10 (quoted authority omitted). Then, the Court of Appeals concluded that such a high standard of proof made the evidence in this particular case insufficient as a matter of law to conclude that Defendant was in possession of the firearm. Id. ¶ 15.

{9} The State protests that the Court of Appeals opinion creates a standard of review in conflict with both the Uniform Jury Instructions and this Court's previous definitions of beyond a reasonable doubt. See UJI 14-5060 NMRA 2005; State v. Rodriguez, 23 N.M. 156, 167 P. 426 (1917). The Uniform Jury Instructions define reasonable doubt as "a doubt based upon reason and common sense—the kind of doubt that would make a reasonable person hesitate to act in the graver and more important affairs of life." UJI 14-5060. The State further argues that the Court of Appeals' articulation of the standard confuses the established precedent of this Court by using phrases such as "proof to a near certainty" and "proof to a moral certainty." Such phrases, the State argues, are unclear, imprecise and potentially confusing, because they are inconsistent with the Uniform Jury Instructions and the case law on which those instructions are founded. Not surprisingly, Defendant agrees with the Court of Appeals and suggests that we modify our Uniform Jury Instructions to conform to these new characterizations.

{10} As we see it, both sides are in error. The State mischaracterizes the Court of Appeals opinion as a change in the standard of proof; Defendant erroneously takes the issue one step further and suggests that we modify our Uniform Jury Instructions. We need to be clear on this subject. The definition of proof beyond a reasonable doubt remains today what it has been for decades, perhaps longer. UJI 14-5060 adequately expresses that definition and is to be used in all jury trials, unadorned by any added, illustrative language from this or any other opinion. We do not believe the Court of Appeals intended any such modification of the definition.

{11} We do agree with the State that unwarranted focus on phrases like "proof to a near certainty" and "proof to a moral certainty" has the potential to create confusion in the law, leaving an unfortunate impression that the law may be something other than what is stated in UJI 14-5060. Accordingly, we discourage reliance on these alternative formulations. As one scholar has noted in a different context, it is when courts are "explicit in opinions about the application of the standard to the particular facts" that we give the most guidance, rather than when we engage in "ever more puzzling reformulations of the test being applied." Michael B. Browde, Substantial Evidence Reconsidered The Post-Duke City Difficulties and Some Suggestions for Their Resolution, 18 N.M. L. Rev. 525, 553-54 (1988) (discussing the definition of substantial evidence, in the context of administrative law). We attempt now to clarify our standard of beyond a reasonable doubt by applying it to the facts of this case.

{12} When reviewing a verdict for sufficiency of the evidence, our role is to determine whether a rational fact-finder...