State v. Rodriguez

Decision Date28 June 2005
Docket NumberNo. 27,409.,27,409.
Citation116 P.3d 92,2005 NMSC 019
PartiesSTATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Freddie RODRIGUEZ, Defendant-Petitioner.
CourtNew Mexico Supreme Court

John Bigelow, Chief Public Defender, Karl Erich Martell, Assistant Appellate Defender, Santa Fe, NM, for Petitioner.

Patricia A. Madrid, Attorney General, Martha Anne Kelly, Assistant Attorney General, Santa Fe, NM, for Respondent.

OPINION

SERNA, Justice.

{1} Following a jury trial, Defendant Freddie Rodriguez was convicted of tampering with evidence, in violation of NMSA 1978, § 30-22-5 (1963, prior to 2003 amendment), conspiracy to commit tampering with evidence, in violation of NMSA 1978, § 30-28-2 (1979), theft of a credit card, in violation of NMSA 1978, § 30-16-26 (1971), and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, in violation of NMSA 1978, § 30-6-3 (1990). On appeal to the Court of Appeals, Defendant argued that his convictions violated the constitutional protection against double jeopardy. Specifically, he argued that, following an initial proceeding in municipal court, the present matter involved an impermissible second prosecution for the same offense. The Court of Appeals affirmed by memorandum opinion and relied in part on an exception to double jeopardy adopted by this Court, the jurisdictional exception. We granted Defendant's petition for writ of certiorari to the Court of Appeals to reconsider our continued application of the jurisdictional exception. We limit the application of the jurisdictional exception in New Mexico but affirm Defendant's convictions.

I. Facts

{2} On May 2, 1999, a sixteen-year-old female, Defendant's girlfriend, stole a purse out of a truck parked at a restaurant. She joined Defendant, and both of them ran away from the truck. Defendant removed a wallet from the purse before discarding it. The wallet contained five one-dollar bills and some credit cards. When the police recovered the wallet, which had been hidden in some rocks, the money was missing. The police found Defendant and his girlfriend hiding at his mother's house. Defendant had five one-dollar bills in his possession.

{3} Two days after his arrest, on May 4, 1999, Defendant pleaded no contest in municipal court to charges of accessory (unspecified) and resisting or obstructing an officer. A booking form listed Defendant as having been arrested for the crimes of accessory to larceny and obstructing an officer. The district attorney's office was unaware of the municipal court proceeding and the plea and made no appearance in municipal court.

{4} Approximately one year later, Defendant was indicted for burglary, misdemeanor larceny, tampering with evidence, theft of a credit card, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and conspiracy to commit burglary or tampering with evidence. Defendant filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that the indictment, as a successive prosecution, violated his right against double jeopardy. Defendant contended that the two prosecutions were based on the same evidence and that the second prosecution was contrary to case law from the United States Supreme Court. The prosecutor responded by arguing that, with the exception of the larceny count, the crimes charged in district court were not the same as those to which Defendant pleaded no contest in municipal court for purposes of a double jeopardy inquiry. The district court judge found that Defendant had pleaded no contest to accessory to larceny in municipal court and indicated that the municipal court did not have jurisdiction over this offense. The judge dismissed the larceny count on double jeopardy grounds but denied the motion to dismiss with respect to the other charges. A jury trial, at which both occupants of the truck and Defendant's girlfriend testified, resulted in the present convictions.

{5} In the Court of Appeals, Defendant again argued that his convictions violated his right against double jeopardy. Defendant argued that the offenses from both prosecutions were the same based on the "same evidence" test set out by this Court in State v. Tanton, 88 N.M. 333, 540 P.2d 813 (1975). In rejecting Defendant's argument, the Court of Appeals noted that it had recently applied the jurisdictional exception in State v. Darkis, 2000-NMCA-085, 129 N.M. 547, 10 P.3d 871. As in that case, the Court of Appeals recognized that this Court has "resolutely adhered" to the jurisdictional exception and that the Court of Appeals has no authority to overrule precedent from this Court. See Darkis, 2000-NMCA-085, ¶ 10, 129 N.M. 547, 10 P.3d 871. The Court noted that "[t]he crimes for which Defendant was charged in the district court were felonies" and that "none of [these] charges ... could have been heard in the municipal court" because, as a court of limited jurisdiction, it has no power to hear felony charges. As a result, the Court applied the jurisdictional exception. The Court also determined that, even if the Tanton "same evidence" test were applicable, the offenses for which Defendant was convicted in district court were not the same as the offenses to which he pleaded no contest in municipal court for purposes of double jeopardy.

II. Double Jeopardy, Successive Prosecutions, and the Jurisdictional Exception

{6} The United States Constitution and the New Mexico Constitution protect criminal defendants against double jeopardy for the same offense. U.S. Const. amends. V, XIV; N.M. Const. art. II, § 15. The right to be free from double jeopardy "consist[s] of three separate constitutional protections. It protects against a second prosecution for the same offense after acquittal. It protects against a second prosecution for the same offense after conviction. And it protects against multiple punishments for the same offense." North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 717, 89 S.Ct. 2072, 23 L.Ed.2d 656 (1969) (footnotes omitted), overruled on other grounds by Alabama v. Smith, 490 U.S. 794, 802-03, 109 S.Ct. 2201, 104 L.Ed.2d 865 (1989). The present case involves a second prosecution after conviction. "Where successive prosecutions are at stake, the guarantee serves a constitutional policy of finality for the defendant's benefit. That policy protects the accused from attempts to relitigate the facts underlying a prior acquittal, and from attempts to secure additional punishment after a prior conviction and sentence." Brown v. Ohio, 432 U.S. 161, 165-66, 97 S.Ct. 2221, 53 L.Ed.2d 187 (1977) (citations, quotation marks, and quoted authority omitted).

The underlying idea, one that is deeply ingrained in at least the Anglo-American system of jurisprudence, is that the State with all its resources and power should not be allowed to make repeated attempts to convict an individual for an alleged offense, thereby subjecting him [or her] to embarrassment, expense and ordeal and compelling him [or her] to live in a continuing state of anxiety and insecurity, as well as enhancing the possibility that even though innocent he [or she] may be found guilty.

Green v. United States, 355 U.S. 184, 187-88, 78 S.Ct. 221, 2 L.Ed.2d 199 (1957).

{7} For purposes of double jeopardy, the phrase "same offense" has a specific meaning. "[T]he test to be applied to determine whether there are two offenses or only one, is whether each provision requires proof of a fact which the other does not." Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 304, 52 S.Ct. 180, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932), quoted in Swafford v. State, 112 N.M. 3, 8, 810 P.2d 1223, 1228 (1991). This test applies in both multiple punishment and multiple prosecution cases. See United States v. Dixon, 509 U.S. 688, 696-97, 703-04, 113 S.Ct. 2849, 125 L.Ed.2d 556 (1993); State v. Powers, 1998-NMCA-133, ¶¶ 21-29, 126 N.M. 114, 967 P.2d 454 (relying on Dixon for an independent state constitutional analysis). Under this test, the phrase "same offense" has been interpreted to include greater and lesser included offenses, and thus, the State cannot subject a defendant to a second prosecution for a greater offense when the defendant has been prosecuted for a lesser included offense, whether the first prosecution resulted in conviction or acquittal. Brown, 432 U.S. at 169, 97 S.Ct. 2221 ("Whatever the sequence may be, the Fifth Amendment forbids successive prosecution ... for a greater and lesser included offense.").

{8} Even when two offenses are deemed the same under this analysis, however, there are limited exceptions to the prohibition against successive prosecutions. The United States Supreme Court first recognized the jurisdictional exception in United States v. Ball, 163 U.S. 662, 669-70, 16 S.Ct. 1192, 41 L.Ed. 300 (1896). In that case, the Court held that a defective indictment in an initial proceeding does not constitute a permissible basis for a second prosecution if the trial court had jurisdiction over the subject matter and the defendant. Id. In contrast, the Court noted that "[a]n acquittal before a court having no jurisdiction is, of course, like all the proceedings in the case, absolutely void, and therefore no bar to subsequent indictment and trial in a court which has jurisdiction of the offence." Id. at 669, 16 S.Ct. 1192. The Court applied this exception a few years later in Diaz v. United States, 223 U.S. 442, 448-49, 32 S.Ct. 250, 56 L.Ed. 500 (1912). The defendant in Diaz was initially tried for and found guilty of assault and battery before a justice of the peace. Id. at 444, 32 S.Ct. 250. Following his conviction, the victim died from the wounds received in the battery, and the defendant was prosecuted for homicide in a court of general jurisdiction. Id. The Court first noted that at the time of the first trial the crime of homicide had not yet been committed and, prior to the death, it was not "possible to put the accused in jeopardy for that offense." Id. at 449, 32 S.Ct. 250. Notwithstanding the absence of any jeopardy, however, the Court also relied on the fact that the initial...

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