State v. Martinez

• Decision Date: 19 October 2009
• Docket Number: No. 28,665.,28,665.
• Citation: 226 P.3d 14,2010 NMCA 003
• Parties: STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Eliseo Santos MARTINEZ, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: Court of Appeals of New Mexico

226 P.3d 14

2010 NMCA 003

STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Eliseo Santos MARTINEZ, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 28,665.

Court of Appeals of New Mexico.

October 19, 2009.

Certiorari Granted, No. 32,069, December 29, 2009.

Gary K. King, Attorney General, Anita Carlson, Assistant Attorney General, Santa Fe, NM, for Appellant.

Hugh W. Dangler, Chief Public Defender Eleanor Brogan, Assistant Appellate Defender, Santa Fe, NM, for Appellee.

OPINION

ROBLES, Judge.

{1} The State appeals a district court order dismissing four felony charges against Eliseo Santos Martinez (Defendant), pursuant to Rule 5-604 NMRA (six-month rule). On appeal, the State argues that (1) Rule 5-604(B)(5) does not require a bench warrant to be issued for a new six-month period to begin, but instead "merely requires that the defendant fail to appear" to a court setting; (2) the district court erred in determining that if a bench warrant is quashed before a defendant is arrested or surrenders, there can be no triggering event for a new six-month period under Rule 5-604(B)(5); and (3) that although the issue was not preserved, this Court should reverse under fundamental error analysis because the district court did, in fact, orally grant a time extension that was never memorialized. We disagree and affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

{2} On January 5, 2007, Defendant was indicted for (1) aggravated burglary contrary to NMSA 1978, Section 30-16-4(C) (1963); (2) aggravated battery contrary to NMSA 1978, Section 30-3-5(C) (1969); (3) conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary contrary to NMSA 1978, Section 30-28-2 (1979); and (4) conspiracy to commit aggravated battery contrary to Section 30-28-2. Defendant was arraigned on February 9, 2007, with trial set for July 17, 2007. On June 12, 2007, Defendant filed an unopposed motion to continue and a petition for a three-month extension of the six-month rule that was granted by the district court. The new rule date became November 9, 2007. On October 22, 2007, neither Defendant nor his attorney made an appearance in court for a docket call. The prosecutor requested that a bench warrant be issued for Defendant's failure to appear, and the district court replied that "a warrant will issue on [Defendant]." The record reveals, however, that the bench warrant was not issued until November 20, 2007, eleven days after the rule date ran and twenty-nine days after Defendant's failure to appear.

II. DISCUSSION

{3} 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. Alternatively, the State argues that, even if a warrant must be issued before the rule expires, it would lead to unreasonable results and situations where defendants may benefit from their failure to appear. Additionally, the State argues that the district court orally granted a three-month extension of time in this case and, although all parties apparently forgot about the extension, this Court should reverse under fundamental error analysis. We address each issue in turn.

A. Issuance of the Bench Warrant

{4} The district court's application of the six-month rule is reviewed under a de novo standard, but determinations by the district court regarding questions of fact are reviewed for substantial evidence. See State v. Rayburns, 2008-NMCA-050, ¶ 7, 143 N.M. 803, 182 P.3d 786.

{5} The rules of criminal procedure for district courts, magistrate courts, metro courts, and municipal courts contain limits regarding the time for the commencement of a defendant's criminal trial. See Rule 5-604; Rule 6-506 NMRA; Rule 7-506 NMRA; Rule 8-506 NMRA. The rules require that a defendant's trial commence within six months of a triggering event. See id.; State v. Carreon, 2006-NMCA-145, ¶ 6, 140 N.M. 779, 149 P.3d 95. We have therefore interpreted the time limits for commencement of trial as mandatory.

{6} Rule 5-604(B)(5) states, in pertinent part, that "[t]he trial of a criminal case or habitual criminal proceeding shall be commenced six (6) months after whichever of the following events occurs latest ... if the defendant is arrested or surrenders in this state for failure to appear, the date of arrest or surrender of the defendant." Where there is a failure to bring a defendant to trial within the relevant time frame 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).

{7} At the outset, we note that New Mexico case law has interpreted the time limit in Rule 5-604 as "bright-line[d]" and mandatory and yet has also recognized that courts are to apply the rule with common sense to avoid effecting a hyper-technical dismissal. See State v. Jaramillo, 2004-NMCA-041, ¶¶ 1, 8-17, 135 N.M. 322, 88 P.3d 264 (discussing the conflicting policies underlying how to apply the rule and reviewing cases that applied various views of the time limit) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). Rule 5-604(F) contains a strongly worded provision for non-compliance within the time limit. Id. ("In the event the trial ... does not commence within the time specified ... the information or indictment ... shall be dismissed."). The purpose of Rule 5-604(F) has been interpreted as guarding "against lack of preparedness on the part of the state." Rayburns, 2008-NMCA-050, ¶ 8, 143 N.M. 803, 182 P.3d 786. However, our cases have also stated that "when the facts ... can be interpreted such that the six-month rule is not violated and when the trial court so interprets them, a dismissal in such circumstances would effectuate the sort of technical dismissal upon which the law frowns." State v. Littlefield, 2008-NMCA-109, ¶ 11, 144 N.M. 655, 190 P.3d 1150 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). These dual and seemingly conflicting policies can be reconciled by noting that the rule is intended for "ease of application," State v. Lobato, 2006-NMCA-051, ¶ 30, 139 N.M. 431, 134 P.3d 122, and that "[t]he crux of the six-month rule is promptness" in bringing a defendant to trial. State v. Dominguez, 2007-NMCA-132, ¶ 22, 142 N.M. 631, 168 P.3d 761.

{8} The question this Court must address is whether Defendant's failure to appear at a docketing call or the district court's oral statement that a warrant would issue can be categorized as a "tolling event" that stopped the six-month clock from running. On December 21, 2007, Defendant filed a motion to dismiss for violation of Rule 5-604 and to quash the warrant. Defendant argued that no extension of time was filed, no exceptional circumstances existed and, as of the rule date of November 9, 2007, no triggering event described under the rule had occurred. A hearing was held on the motion at the conclusion of which the district court issued an order of dismissal, stating that "[t]he ... Rule 5-604 time limits set in this case expired on November 9th, 2007 [, and the] criminal action must be dismissed pursuant to ... Rule 5-604." This was proper.

{9} The State argues that the rule provides for a new six-month period to bring Defendant to trial as a consequence for his failure to appear and the issuance of a bench warrant. New Mexico case law, however, has previously held that a defendant's failure to appear was not an event that by itself could toll the running of the six-month period under Rule 5-604(B)(5), nor is it an event that can trigger a resetting of the period. See State v. Granado, 2007-NMCA-058, ¶¶ 21, 27, 141 N.M. 575, 158 P.3d 1018. In Granado, the defendant made an appearance in court several hours late after the court had already stated that a warrant would be issued. Id. ¶¶ 4, 5. After the defendant arrived and explained that his delay was for good cause, the court stated the warrant would be cancelled. Id. ¶ 5. Subsequently, the defendant's trial was held outside of the original six-month rule date, and the defendant moved to dismiss. Id. ¶ 6. Upon review, this Court concluded that because a warrant was never actually filed, no warrant was ever issued. See id. ¶¶ 9, 15-17, 25 ("When the judge later announced he was going to `cancel' the bench warrant, there was nothing to cancel. His case note to `cancel the bench warrant' was nothing more than a note to his chambers not to issue the bench warrant he had earlier said he had intended to issue."). Because there was no warrant, there was no new triggering event that could reset the defendant's six-month rule period under Rule 5-604(B)(5). See Granado, 2007-NMCA-058, ¶¶ 21, 27, 141 N.M. 575, 158 P.3d 1018.

{10} It is the State's obligation, not Defendant's, to establish that a bench warrant is actually issued if it intends to rely on its assertion that the latest triggering event under Rule 5-604(B) was a bench warrant being issued for failure to appear. See Granado, 2007-NMCA-058, ¶ 18, 141 N.M. 575, 158 P.3d 1018. Likewise, in Granado, this Court did not determine that the defendant's failure to appear tolled the running of the six months. Holding otherwise would introduce situations where a defendant's failure to appear could toll the six-month period while, at the same time, the clock would continue to run under Granado if a warrant was never obtained. This could result in a defendant's six-month period expiring with the possibility that the State could obtain a warrant at some future time. This is not the law. The State is not permitted to pursue the issuance of a warrant at its leisure after the six-month time period has expired. See Rule 5-604(B) (providing six months for the commencement of trial); Rule 5-604(F) (stating that an information or indictment shall be dismissed with prejudice if the trial is not commenced within the applicable time period); see also State v. Yates, 2008-NMCA-129, ¶ 13, 144 N.M. 859, 192 P.3d 1236 ("A six-month rule means six months, not six months plus some additional...