State v. Moreland

• Decision Date: 28 February 2007
• Docket Number: No. 25,831.,25,831.
• Citation: 2007 NMCA 047,157 P.3d 728
• Parties: STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Steven R. MORELAND, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: Court of Appeals of New Mexico

157 P.3d 728

2007 NMCA 047

STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Steven R. MORELAND, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 25,831.

Court of Appeals of New Mexico.

February 28, 2007.

Certiorari Granted, No. 30,301, April 20, 2007.

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

Doerr & Knudson, P.A., Stephen Doerr, Portales, NM, for Appellee.

OPINION

VIGIL, Judge.

{1} The State appeals from an order of the district court granting Defendant a new trial, asserting: (1) the district court had no jurisdiction to grant Defendant's motion, and (2) if it did have jurisdiction, the district court abused its discretion. We affirm. Since other rulings of the district court may or may not be repeated on retrial, we do not address them in this appeal.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

{2} Defendant and his live-in fiancee injected themselves with methamphetamine. While both of them were intoxicated from the drug, she said Defendant attacked her in a variety of ways, threatening and hitting her with a hatchet, attempting to drown her in the toilet and in the bathtub, trying to pull off her finger, dragging her around the house with a chain, trying to choke her with toothpaste, and tearing off some of her clothes. She eventually ran out of the house and called 911.

{3} When the police arrived, Defendant had already left and he was located and arrested at his mother's house. Defendant's mother and maybe Defendant himself told the officers he had overdosed on some drugs and Defendant said he needed to go to the hospital. At the hospital, Defendant struggled with the officers, which resulted in charges of battery and assault on peace officers, disorderly conduct, and resisting a peace officer.

{4} After trial, a jury found Defendant guilty of first degree kidnaping, possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, assault with intent to commit the violent felony of murder on a household member, battery on a peace officer, assault on a peace officer, disorderly conduct, and resisting or evading a peace officer. The jury found Defendant not guilty of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon against a household member (using a hatchet) and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon against a household member (using a chain).

{5} The jury verdicts were returned in open court on August 23, 2003, and the district court ordered that Defendant be jailed pending imposition of sentence. The district court then committed Defendant to the Department of Corrections for a sixty-day diagnostic evaluation on September 9, 2003. The psychologist who evaluated Defendant at the Department of Corrections reported that while Defendant had valid profile indicators on two separate tests, his profile was "inconsistent with any established profile type[.]" The psychologist further noted, "It appears that when [Defendant] is under the influence of illicit substances, he experiences an idiosyncratic type of intoxication and engages in hostile behavior, which he would not normally display, if he were not under the influence of an illicit substance."

{6} In light of the foregoing information, counsel for Defendant made arrangements for a more extensive psychological evaluation. The State did not oppose Defendant's motion asking that a police officer transport him from jail to Dr. Samuel Roll's office for the evaluation and return Defendant to jail at his own expense. Consequently, the district court granted the motion on January 12, 2004, and directed that Defendant was to be taken to Dr. Roll's office for the evaluation on January 19, 2004.

{7} The sentencing hearing was set for February 25, 2004. At that time Defendant's attorney asked that the hearing be continued because he was filing a motion for new trial based on the two evaluations. However, Dr. Roll had asked for raw data which he had not yet received and he had not yet completed his forensic evaluation report. The State objected, arguing that under Rule 5-614(C) NMRA, Defendant's motion for a new trial was untimely because more than ten days had passed since the verdict. The district court wanted to consider Dr. Roll's assessment, and vacated the hearing, directing defense counsel to have the sentencing hearing reset upon receipt of Dr. Roll's report. Dr. Roll completed his findings in a report dated June 18, 2004. In the meantime, the district court had ordered a separate trial on certain counts in the indictment, and they were set to be tried on June 28, 2004. Defendant had undergone a competency examination to ascertain whether he could proceed to trial on the severed counts, but the results of the examination were not available. The State therefore did not oppose Defendant's motion, filed on June 22, 2004, to vacate that trial setting. A stipulated order vacating that trial was filed on June 24, 2004.

{8} On September 7, 2004, the district court set Defendant's motion for new trial to be heard on January 20, 2005. At the hearing, the court and the parties realized that Defendant's motion for a new trial had been placed in the back of the court file and not file stamped. Defendant said he thought the motion was filed in open court at the original sentencing hearing on February 25, 2004. He said that when the State had asserted that the motion for new trial was not timely, more that ten days having elapsed since the verdicts, it should have been noted that the motion was filed in open court on that day. The State agreed, and the district court certified that Defendant's motion for a new trial was filed as of February 25, 2004. Following the January 20, 2005 hearing, the district court issued a letter on April 20, 2005, stating it was going to grant Defendant's motion for new trial. The State appeals from the formal order, which was subsequently filed on May 25, 2005, granting the motion. The State argues that the district court had no jurisdiction to grant the motion for two reasons: Defendant did not file the motion on time, and if he did, the district court did not act on time, because it was already deemed denied by operation of law. The State also argues that on the merits, the district court abused its discretion in granting Defendant a new trial. We affirm.

DISCUSSION

Issue 1: The District Court's Jurisdiction to Grant the Motion for New Trial

{9} The question of whether the district court had jurisdiction to grant Defendant's motion for new trial presents a question of law, which we review de novo. City of Roswell v. Smith, 2006-NMCA-040, ¶ 10, 139 N.M. 381, 133 P.3d 271. In this case, Rule 5-614 and Rule 5-104(B) NMRA of the Rules of Criminal Procedure for the District Courts are relevant to our jurisdictional inquiry. We apply the same rules to the construction of these rules as we apply to statutes. See In re Michael L., 2002-NMCA-076, ¶ 9, 132 N.M. 479, 50 P.3d 574. As such, our interpretation of the rules is also de novo. See State v. Rowell, 121 N.M. 111, 114, 908 P.2d 1379, 1382 (1995) (stating that interpretation of a statute is a question of law reviewed de novo).

{10} Rule 5-614 is entitled "Motion for new trial" and provides:

A. Motion. When the defendant has been found guilty, the court on motion of the defendant, or on its own motion, may grant a new trial if required in the interest of justice.

B. Evidence on motion. When a motion for new trial calls for a decision on any question of fact, the court may consider evidence on such motion by affidavit or otherwise.

C. Time for making motion for new trial. A motion for new trial based on the ground of newly discovered evidence may be made only before final judgment, or within two (2) years thereafter, but if an appeal is pending the court may grant the motion only on remand of the case. A motion for new trial based on any other grounds shall be made within ten (10) days after verdict or finding of guilty or within such further time as the court may fix during the ten (10) day period. If a motion for new trial is not granted within thirty (30) days from the date it is filed, the motion is automatically denied.

D. Procedure; hearing. When the defendant has been found guilty by a jury or by the court, a motion for new trial may be dictated into the record, if a court reporter is present, and may be argued immediately after the return of the verdict or the finding of the court. Such motion may be in writing and filed with the clerk. Such motion, written or oral, shall fully set forth the grounds upon which it is based.

E. Waiver. Failure to make a motion for a new trial shall not constitute a waiver of any error which has been properly brought to the attention of the court.

{11} The State contends that the district court lacked jurisdiction to grant a new trial in this case. First, the State contends that Defendant's motion for new trial was filed too late under Rule 5-614(C) because it was filed more than ten days after the verdict. Second, the State argues that even if the motion was based on newly discovered evidence and was filed on time, the district court lost jurisdiction over the motion under Rule 5-614(C) because it was not granted within thirty days from the date it was filed. Considering the motion to have been filed on February 25, 2004, the State asserts it was deemed denied under Rule 5-614(C), thirty days later, with the result that the district court did not have jurisdiction to grant the motion when it issued its letter decision on April 20, 2005, or when the formal order was later filed on May 25, 2005.

{12} We first determine whether Defendant's motion for a new trial was timely filed. Defendant's motion asserts it is based on his psychological and psychiatric condition that was not known at the time of trial, and the order granting the new trial is based on Defendant's psychological disorder, which the district court found was not discoverable at the time of trial. The motion was premised upon, and granted because...