State v. Pruett

• Decision Date: 31 January 1984
• Docket Number: No. 14912,14912
• Parties: STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Marion A. PRUETT, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: New Mexico Supreme Court

Page 418

675 P.2d 418

100 N.M. 686

STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Marion A. PRUETT, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 14912.

Supreme Court of New Mexico.

Jan. 31, 1984.

[100 NM 686] Paul Bardacke, Atty. Gen., Elizabeth Major, Asst. Atty. Gen., Santa Fe, for plaintiff-appellee.

Martha A. Daly, Rothstein, Bailey, Bennett & Daly, Santa Fe, for defendant-appellant.

OPINION

WALTERS, Justice.

Defendant, convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, raises two issues on appeal: (1) Whether the trial court's denial of a continuance was an abuse of discretion; and (2) Whether the confession given by defendant to a Jackson, Mississippi, police officer should have been suppressed. We affirm.

1) Defendant was arraigned on September 14, 1982, at which proceeding he announced that he would represent himself with assistance from the public defender. Trial was set for December 13th. At a continuance motion hearing on December 7th, a conflict appeared and the trial court directed appointment of new counsel. In January another continuance was requested, and the trial date was set for February 7, 1983. Defendant contends that the State's extended witness list, many whose addresses or telephone numbers were not shown on the list, made it impossible for defendant to find and interview all of the anticipated witnesses in the time between appointment of counsel and date of trial. Additionally, the name of the Crimestoppers informant was not known, and defendant argues that because he was unable to track down the informant, he was denied the opportunity to impeach the State's principal witness, Bill Sherman, who was named by the Crimestoppers informant as the murderer.

Defendant also claims that the time constraint prevented him from discovering information contained in FBI reports and documents of the federal witness protection program until after the verdict was returned. All of those incidents contributed, says defendant, to a denial of his right to adequately prepare his defense, in contravention of the Sixth Amendment and of N.M.Const. art. II, Sec. 14.

The State's witnesses for whom addresses and telephone numbers were not provided were not called to testify. Defendant asserts that their mere listing "establishes their involvement in some aspect of the case" and, therefore, information from any of them "could" have benefited his defense. But, as in State v. Perez, 95 N.M. 262, 620 P.2d 1287 (1980), no one had the slightest notion when or whether these witnesses would have been located or made available for trial testimony. Perez indicates that continuance for a "reasonable" time to find a witness is not improper. With eight weeks between the time counsel was appointed and the date of trial, and no assurance that locating the witnesses was imminent or that their information would assist the defense, we cannot say that the court abused its discretion in refusing a continuance on that ground.

With regard to the information sought from federal records, it appears that defendant in January, 1983, requested some material through the Freedom of Information Act that was not forthcoming. On February 2, 1983, at defendant's request, the trial court signed an order directing the U.S. Marshal to produce certain files for inspection on February 7th. On February 8th, the U.S. Attorney appeared in court and advised that defendant's subpoenaes did not comply with federal regulations. Two...