State v. Mondragon

• Decision Date: 27 October 2008
• Docket Number: No. 26,346.,26,346.
• Citation: 2008 NMCA 157,203 P.3d 105
• Parties: STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Jeremy MONDRAGON, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Court of Appeals of New Mexico

203 P.3d 105

2008 NMCA 157

STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Jeremy MONDRAGON, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 26,346.

Court of Appeals of New Mexico.

October 27, 2008.

Gary K. King, Attorney General, Santa Fe, NM, M. Victoria Wilson, Assistant Attorney General, Albuquerque, NM, for Appellee.

Hugh W. Dangler, Chief Public Defender, Kathleen T. Baldridge, Assistant Appellate Defender, Santa Fe, NM, for Appellant.

OPINION

CASTILLO, Judge.

{1} The question before us is whether injuries inflicted on a fetus, which result in the death of a child born alive, support a charge for child abuse resulting in death under NMSA 1978, § 30-6-1(E) (2004) (amended 2005). Based on the language of the statute, we conclude that the trial court erred by denying Defendant's motion to dismiss the charges, and we reverse.

I. BACKGROUND

{2} The parties stipulated to the following facts for the purposes of the motion to dismiss. At the time of the incident, Defendant and Mother lived together, and Mother was 24 weeks pregnant. On September 4, 2002, Mother called the police for assistance in order to get to the hospital. She reported that someone had entered her home on the previous evening and raped her. After sheriff's deputies arrived, Mother was transported to the hospital.

{3} At the hospital, the deputies took statements from Mother and Defendant. After questioning, Defendant admitted that he had hit Mother "on top of her head with his knuckles, on the side, leg or butt with nunchucks, and that he slapped her on the side of her face with a backhand." He further admitted to "kicking or pushing her on the side near her left hip and that she may have hit her stomach when she fell against a table." Hospital staff documented injuries to Mother's head and bruising on her left flank. The next day, Mother's water broke during a pelvic exam, and on September 10, Mother gave birth to a baby boy. He died on September 12. The Office of the Medical Examiner ruled the manner of death to be a homicide and the cause of death to be prematurity and infection due to maternal abdominal blunt trauma.

{4} The State indicted Defendant on three counts: abuse of a child resulting in death, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon of a household member, and aggravated assault against a household member with a deadly weapon. Defendant filed a motion to dismiss the child abuse charge, contending that the child abuse statute could not be read to punish for injury to a fetus. Defendant also filed a motion to suppress his oral statements to the deputies and argued that he was not advised of his constitutional rights and that his statements were involuntary and the result of coercion.

{5} On July 28, 2005, the trial court issued a letter decision denying Defendant's motion to dismiss. The trial court summarized the State's allegations to be that Defendant injured Mother, which resulted in the death of a child. The trial court also denied Defendant's motion to suppress his statements. Defendant pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter and reserved the right to appeal "the legal rulings in this case."

II. DISCUSSION

{6} Defendant raises two issues on appeal. First, he argues that the trial court improperly denied his motion to dismiss the child abuse charge. Second, Defendant contends that the trial court should have suppressed his statements to the deputies at the hospital. Because we agree with Defendant that the child abuse charge should have been dismissed, we do not reach the suppression issue. The facts are undisputed, and Defendant maintains that the trial court erred as a matter of law. Accordingly, we review de novo the denial of the motion to dismiss. State v. Shirley, 2007-NMCA-137, ¶ 18, 142 N.M. 765, 170 P.3d 1003, cert. denied, 2007-NMCERT-010, 143 N.M. 73, 172 P.3d 1285.

{7} Defendant argues that the charge of child abuse resulting in death must be dismissed because it stems from injuries that Defendant allegedly inflicted on a fetus, and not on a child. This result is compelled, Defendant contends, by this Court's decision in State v. Martinez, 2006-NMCA-068, 139 N.M. 741, 137 P.3d 1195, which held that "the Legislature did not intend for a viable fetus to be included within the statutory definition of a child for the purposes of the child abuse statute." Id. ¶ 13.

{8} The State distinguishes Martinez and focuses instead on the fact that Defendant's actions allegedly caused the death of a child, and not a fetus, because the baby was born alive. For this reason, the State urges us to apply the common law born alive rule to the facts of this case. The born alive rule allows a homicide prosecution in the event that injuries are inflicted on a fetus, the child is born alive, and the child subsequently dies as a result of the in utero injuries. See State v. Willis, 98 N.M. 771, 771-72, 652 P.2d 1222, 1222-23 (Ct.App.1982). The trial court agreed with the State, explaining that "the State alleges that the injuries to [M]other caused a sequence of events that injured the child, ultimately resulting in the child's death. Because the child was born alive, [D]efendant's motion, as a matter of law, must fail." We consider the parties' arguments in turn, beginning with the language of the charging statute. See State v. Lopez, 2000-NMCA-001, ¶ 6, 128 N.M. 450, 993 P.2d 767 (looking first to the language of the statute).

A. Section 30-6-1

{9} "We look first to the plain language of the statute." State v. Bennett, 2003-NMCA-147, ¶ 6, 134 N.M. 705, 82 P.3d 72. Child abuse is defined as "a person knowingly, intentionally or negligently, and without justifiable cause, causing or permitting a child to be ... placed in a situation that may endanger the child's life or health[.]" Section 30-6-1(D)(1). Section 30-6-1(E) explains that "[i]f the abuse results in great bodily harm or death to the child, he is guilty of a first degree felony." Based on the plain language of Section 30-6-1(D)(1), in order for a person to be charged with child abuse, a child must have been placed in a dangerous situation. Section 30-6-1(E) attaches heightened punishment when the abuse of a child results in the death of that child. The language of the recently amended version of the statute makes clear that the abuse of a child must result in the death of that child: "Whoever commits intentional abuse of a child less than twelve years of age that results in the death of the child is guilty of a first degree felony resulting in the death of a child." Section 30-6-1(H) (2005). Thus, from the language of the charging statute, we conclude that in order to charge a person with child abuse resulting in death, the State must have evidence (1) that a child was abused and (2) that the child died as a result of that abuse. We now consider whether a fetus is a child for the purposes of Section 30-6-1.

B. Martinez

{10} In Martinez, a mother gave birth to a child who showed signs of cocaine withdrawal. 2006-NMCA-068, ¶ 2, 139 N.M. 741, 137 P.3d 1195. The mother was charged with felony child abuse. Id. ¶ 4. This Court held that the mother's motion to dismiss the charges should have been granted. Id. ¶ 13. The Martinez Court explained that the Legislature had consistently addressed the killing of fetuses and the killing of persons separately. Id. ¶ 7. Further, the Court acknowledged that it could not "expand the meaning of `human being' to include an unborn viable fetus because the power to define crimes and to establish criminal penalties is exclusively a legislative function." Id. ¶ 9. As we stated earlier, in Martinez, this Court concluded that "the Legislature did not intend for a viable fetus to be included within the statutory definition of a child for the purposes of the child abuse statute." Id. ¶ 13.

{11} Defendant contends that the holding in Martinez requires us to reverse the trial court. Based on our earlier discussion of the statutory language, we agree. Section 30-6-1(E) requires the State to establish that a child was abused and the child's death resulted from the abuse. In the present case, the State has alleged that a child's death resulted from Defendant's abuse, because the child was born alive and subsequently died. Based on the holding in Martinez, however, the State cannot establish that a child was abused by Defendant. At the time that Defendant's alleged acts occurred, on September 4, there was no child—because according to Martinez, a fetus is not a child for the purposes of the child abuse statute. Consequently, Defendant cannot be charged with child abuse resulting in death under Section 30-6-1.

{12} The State attempts to distinguish Martinez by providing auxiliary rationales for the holding. For example, the State suggests that the Martinez Court did not believe that the state had proven the elements of child endangerment in that case. In the alternative, the State argues that the crime of endangerment was complete when the mother in Martinez completed the act of ingesting a controlled substance, whereas in the present case, Defendant's alleged acts were not completed until the child died. The State also contends that we should evaluate the crime of child abuse resulting in death differently from the crime of child endangerment. These distinctions disregard the analysis that was actually undertaken by the Martinez Court: to interpret the language of the child abuse statute. See 2006-NMCA-068, ¶ 5, 139 N.M. 741, 137 P.3d 1195. The Martinez Court did not consider whether there was substantial evidence to support the charge or whether the crime was complete. The State does not explain how the Legislature could have intended the word "child" to include a fetus under Section 30-6-1(E), but not under Section 30-6-1(D)(1).

{13} Accordingly, we hold that the trial court should have granted Defendant's motion to dismiss because, although the State alleged that Defendant's actions resulted in the death of a child, the alleged injuries were inflicted on a fetus,...