State v. Maples

• Decision Date: 19 April 2013
• Docket Number: No. 30,507.,30,507.
• Citation: 300 P.3d 749
• Parties: STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff–Appellee, v. Billy MAPLES, Defendant–Appellant.
• Court: Court of Appeals of New Mexico

300 P.3d 749

STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff–Appellee,

v.Billy MAPLES, Defendant–Appellant.

No. 30,507.

Court of Appeals of New Mexico.

Feb. 18, 2013.

Certiorari Denied, March 19, 2013, No. 34,033.

Certiorari Granted, April 19, 2013, No. 34,074.

Gary K. King, Attorney General, Margaret E. McLean, Assistant Attorney General, Joel Jacobsen, Assistant Attorney General, Santa Fe, NM, for Appellee.

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

OPINION

FRY, Judge.

{1} Defendant Billy Maples appeals his convictions for voluntary manslaughter, false imprisonment, tampering with evidence, and conspiracy to commit tampering with evidence. Defendant raises six issues on appeal. Because we conclude that the district court abused its discretion in excluding evidence offered by Defendant regarding Victim's prior acts while under the influence of methamphetamine, we do not reach the remaining issues. Since the exclusion of the evidence denied Defendant his right to presenta complete defense, we reverse Defendant's convictions and remand for a new trial.

BACKGROUND

{2} On January 4, 2009, Defendant agreed to drive a friend, Kaci Easter, from Carlsbad, New Mexico, to her home in Hobbs, New Mexico. Kaci had recently undergone surgery and was still recovering. She testified that she was feeling ill that night and was unable to make the drive herself. Since Defendant was driving Kaci's vehicle, he asked another friend, Rusty Reed, to follow him in Reed's car so that Reed could bring Defendant back to Carlsbad. Reed's girlfriend, Jennifer Cox (Victim), also decided to accompany the group to Hobbs.

{3} Kaci had never met Victim prior to the trip. Kaci testified that when she first met Victim at Reed's house that night, others in the group made reference to Victim's strange behavior, especially when she was under the influence of methamphetamine. Kaci testified to noticing some of this erratic behavior, including Victim talking to herself or to things that were not there.

{4} The group did not leave Carlsbad until sometime after 11:00 that night. When they arrived in Hobbs, Reed and Defendant decided that they should wait until daylight to return to Carlsbad due to the weather. Though Kaci initially stayed up with the group, she eventually took a prescription pain pill and went to bed.

{5} After Kaci went to the bedroom, Defendant, Reed, and Victim remained in the living room area. Reed testified that Victim was both smoking and injecting methamphetamine. The medical examiner would later testify that at the time of Victim's death, the amount of methamphetamine in her system was in the fatal range. Victim's behavior after using the methamphetamine became increasingly erratic, and she began wandering through the house picking up Kaci's belongings. She was also playing with two knives that she often kept with her. Defendant was apprehensive about Victim's behavior and particularly about how she was handling the knives. At one point, Defendant took the knives from Victim, although he would later return them to her. Eventually, Reed became annoyed with the situation and decided to leave earlier than planned for Carlsbad. Neither Victim nor Defendant left with him.

{6} The sequence of events that ultimately led to Victim's death began when she entered Kaci's bedroom. Kaci testified that she awoke to Victim hovering over her bed with the two knives in her hands. Defendant intervened and wrestled Victim to the floor while attempting to disarm and restrain her. Kaci testified that what followed was a long and violent struggle between Defendant and Victim. Kaci testified that Victim was “uncontrollable” and that it was “hard to articulate just how violent and how wild she was.” Kaci testified that Defendant held Victim on the floor and was telling her to calm down and that he would let her up but that she continued thrashing and snarling. Kaci testified that while Defendant was holding Victim on the floor, she was unsure whether Victim was still in possession of the knives. Defendant, on the other hand, told police that he disarmed Victim during the struggle, although Victim grabbed the knives back at least once.

{7} In his statement to police, Defendant admitted that he put Victim in a choke hold on three occasions after taking away the knives but stated that he did not choke her to unconsciousness and that each time he released her she would continue to violently struggle. Defendant eventually asked Kaci for duct tape so that he could restrain Victim. With Kaci holding Victim's legs, Defendant was able to wrap Victim's hands and feet with duct tape and twine. However, even with her hands and feet restrained, Victim, who was on her stomach, continued to struggle, and Defendant continued to straddle her.

{8} Kaci testified that she left the room on multiple occasions due to concerns regarding her recent surgery and to phone Reed regarding Victim's behavior. On one of these trips out of the room, Defendant shouted out to Kaci that Victim had stopped breathing. When Kaci reentered the room, Defendant was performing CPR on Victim, who was apparently still restrained until Kaci cut the tape around her hands. Defendant told police that he performed CPR for nearly an hour until he realized that he was not going to be able to revive Victim.

{9} Neither Kaci nor Defendant immediately contacted police after Victim's death. Instead, Defendant wrapped Victim's body in a sheet and placed it in a detached garage. Later that morning, Kaci's estranged husband arrived at Kaci's home. Kaci went out to his car and told him that there was a dead body in the garage. He then drove Kaci to the police station where she told officers what had happened. Officers arrived at Kaci's home soon after and confirmed that Victim was dead in the garage. The officers made contact with Defendant and took him to the police station. Both Kaci and Defendant were subsequently arrested and charged in the death of Victim.

{10} Prior to trial, Defendant submitted an amended witness list that identified three police officers who had prior experiences with Victim months before her death while she was purportedly under the influence of methamphetamine. Two officers in particular were prepared to testify to Victim's unusual strength, her continued resistance to restraint, and her seeming imperviousness to pain when the officers attempted to arrest her. The State filed a motion in limine to exclude this testimony as impermissible character evidence of a victim under Rule 11–404(A) NMRA.

{11} During arguments on the motion, Defense counsel made a proffer of evidence that included the following remarks:

[The officer] talks about how ... in his encounters with her, he could not obtain any pain complaints with her. It's as if she just wasn't there. [And] about how she struggled and scratched and kicked. And, your honor, his descriptions of her behavior are almost verbatim of descriptions of behavior that both [Kaci] and [Defendant] described at the time of these events.... [H]e describes an unbelievable amount of strength and violence on the part of this woman ... and that, again, several police officers had an almost unbearable time with trying to calm her, contain her, and she still was violent.

During a second round of arguments on the admissibility of the testimony, defense counsel again stated:

In two instances within about a week of each other, [the officer] came into physical contact with [Victim] and that she seemed to be essentially impervious to any kind of control tactic that he used as in pain compliance.... He got her down and she was struggling with such force that he was having a very difficult time trying to contain her with handcuffs and [another officer] came to his assistance ... and held her legs so that he could handcuff her. And that even after handcuffed, she continued to struggle, [and] to fight[.]

{12} The district court ultimately agreed with the State and excluded the testimony. Defendant was subsequently convicted on all counts and now appeals.

DISCUSSIONCharacter Evidence of the Victim in Self Defense Cases

{13} We review the exclusion of evidence for abuse of discretion. State v. Stanley, 2001–NMSC–037, ¶ 5, 131 N.M. 368, 37 P.3d 85. “An abuse of discretion occurs when the ruling is clearly against the logic and effect of the facts and circumstances of the case.” State v. Woodward, 121 N.M. 1, 4, 908 P.2d 231, 234 (1995), abrogated on other grounds as recognized by State v. Granillo–Macias, 2008–NMCA–021, 143 N.M. 455, 176 P.3d 1187.

{14} We begin our analysis with an examination of the rules governing the admissibility of character evidence of a victim when offered by a defendant claiming self defense. In this case, the State and Defendant disagree on whether our Supreme Court's holding in State v. Armendariz, 2006–NMSC–036, 140 N.M. 182, 141 P.3d 526,overruled on other grounds by State v. Swick, 2012–NMSC–018, ¶ 31, 279 P.3d 747 applies, and therefore whether the limitations placed on such evidence under Rules 11–404(A) and –405 NMRA are applicable to the present facts. As examined in more detail below, the district court, relying on Armendariz, ruled that since Defendant had no knowledge prior to his encounter with Victim of the incidents about which the officers would testify, testimonyregarding the specific incidents of Victim's conduct were inadmissible. See Armendariz, 2006–NMSC–036, ¶ 17, 140 N.M. 182, 141 P.3d 526 (“[U]nder Rule 11–405(B), evidence of specific instances of the victim's prior violent conduct of which the defendant was aware may be admitted to show the defendant's fear of the victim.”).

{15} Under Rule 11–404(A)(1), “[e]vidence of a person's character or character trait is not admissible to prove that on a particular occasion the person acted in accordance with the character or trait.” In criminal cases, however, an exception exists that allows a...