State v. Sanchez

• Decision Date: 02 November 1989
• Docket Number: No. 18057,18057
• Citation: State v. Sanchez, 109 N.M. 313, 785 P.2d 224, 1989 NMSC 68 (N.M. 1989)
• Parties: STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Toby SANCHEZ, Jr., Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: New Mexico Supreme Court

Page 224

785 P.2d 224

109 N.M. 313

STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Toby SANCHEZ, Jr., Defendant-Appellant.

No. 18057.

Supreme Court of New Mexico.

Nov. 2, 1989.

Rehearing Denied Dec. 5, 1989.

[109 N.M. 314] Jacquelyn Robins, Chief Public Defender, Susan Gibbs, Appellate Defender, Santa Fe, for defendant-appellant.

Bryan L. Hunt, Las Vegas, trial counsel.

Hal Stratton, Atty. Gen., Margaret B. Alcock, Asst. Atty. Gen., Santa Fe, for plaintiff-appellee.

OPINION

SOSA, Chief Justice.

Defendant-appellant, Toby Sanchez (Sanchez), appeals his conviction for first-degree murder. During the evening of May 26/27, 1987, in Watrous, Sanchez killed Robert Vigil by cutting Vigil's throat several times while he lay sleeping in a state of alcoholic intoxication. Sanchez and Vigil had been together at the home of another man, where several people had been drinking heavily. Sanchez was on probation for the commission of burglary and larceny. As a condition of probation Sanchez was not permitted to drink alcoholic beverages, but he did so and progressively became intoxicated over the course of the evening. In addition, he took two prednisone pills to control his asthma. Witnesses testified that following the killing Sanchez seemed to be in a dazed state, showed no emotions, and appeared not to be shocked by Vigil's death. Sanchez asked one or more persons in the home to help him bury the victim's body, but no one agreed, and the victim was not buried. Sanchez then drove to Las Vegas and parked in front of a friend's house. The friend testified that Sanchez was crying and whimpering, and asked him to drive back to Watrous with Sanchez to determine if a killing had been committed.

At trial, Sanchez introduced the testimony of an expert medical witness, who testified that prednisone was known to produce a psychotic reaction in a small percentage of people, that the description of Sanchez' behavior at the time of the killing was consistent with such a reaction, and that, in his opinion, at the time of the killing Sanchez was unable to tell right from wrong because of his use of alcohol and drugs and was incapable of forming the deliberate intent to kill someone. The State did not rebut this testimony with contrary expert testimony but did present testimony from Sanchez' doctor, who stated that while he had read about the possibility of a psychotic reaction to prednisone, he personally had never seen such a case. He also acknowledged that it was unlikely he would have warned Sanchez about this possible side effect, even had he known about Sanchez' problems with alcohol. Sanchez' employer testified that he had found several vials of pills in areas of his house where Sanchez had been, and that a missing prescription of librium was found in a clothes hamper that could have been used by Sanchez. Sanchez' medical expert testified about a syndrome known as "librium rage" which could produce unexplained and unexpected violent behavior in someone who had ingested librium.

The State countered Sanchez' defense of incapacity to form specific intent by introducing testimony of Loretta Garcia (Garcia) and Gloria Jean Salas (Salas). Garcia testified that she had talked with Sanchez several hours before the killing. Sanchez said something about "killing time" or "killing him." During pre-trial investigation, Garcia had said that Sanchez, in speaking of "killing," had referred specifically to Vigil, but Garcia later denied this. Salas testified that following the killing, Garcia came to Salas' house to comfort Salas' daughter, who had been Vigil's girlfriend. During the conversation Garcia expressed misgivings over not warning someone about Sanchez' threat. Had she done so, Garcia said, Vigil now might not be dead.

On appeal, Sanchez raises the following arguments as to alleged prejudicial error:

(I) NO SPEEDY TRIAL, IN VIOLATION OF SCRA 1986, 5-604

Sanchez argues that his trial took place more than six months after his arraignment, in violation of SCRA 1986, 5-604, which reads, in pertinent part, as follows:

B. * * * * The trial of a criminal case * * * shall be commenced six (6) months after whichever of the following events occurs latest:

* * * * * *

(7) the date the court allows the withdrawal of a plea or the rejection of a plea made pursuant to Paragraphs A to F of Rule 5-304.

C. * * * * The time for commencement of trial may be extended only by the supreme court, a justice thereof, or a judge designated by the supreme court, for good cause shown * * * * If the supreme court finds that there is good cause for the granting of an extension beyond the six (6) month period, it shall fix the time limit within which the defendant must be tried.

D. * * * * In event the trial of any person does not commence within the time specified in Paragraph B of this rule or within the period of any extension granted as provided in this rule, the information or indictment filed against such person shall be dismissed with prejudice.

SCRA 1986, 5-604.

Sanchez was arraigned on July 8, 1987. The State properly received from the supreme court an extension of time to try Sanchez. The extension was to expire on February 5, 1988. In January, however, the State and Sanchez' counsel negotiated a plea of guilty to voluntary manslaughter. The State signed the agreement on February 10. Sanchez signed it on February 25, and his counsel signed it on February 26. A hearing to enter the plea was scheduled for March 15, 1988. From the record it appears that the State entered into plea negotiations based on prior approval of the plea bargain by the victim's family. On March 14, Sanchez' counsel learned that the victim's family publicly had expressed disapproval of the plea. On March 15, Sanchez' counsel filed a motion to dismiss the charges with prejudice because trial had not begun by February 5. On March 15, following testimony by the victim's family in opposition to the plea bargain, the trial court rejected the negotiated plea. Sanchez states that if the court had rejected the plea on February 5 at the latest, the time for commencement of trial would have been extended by six months to August 5. Trial actually began on September 6. Thus, Sanchez argues, trial began too late and the motion to dismiss should have been granted. The State contends that the pivotal date is March 15, arguing that the parties agreed that all proceedings were to be held in abeyance until a ruling by the court on the plea bargain. Thus, the State concludes, the State had until September 15 to start trial.

We agree with the State's position. It is true that the extension of time ended on February 5. Yet, twenty days after that date, on February 25, Sanchez signed a plea agreement. On the following day, February 26, his attorney signed the plea agreement, knowing that a hearing on the plea was scheduled for March 15. During the period between February 5 and March 15 it clearly was understood by the parties that the action against Sanchez was held in abeyance. By his and his attorney's actions, Sanchez expressed his implied consent to continue the date for trial past the February 5 deadline and to six months past March 15. While it is true that SCRA 1986, 5-604 does not speak to a situation in which the parties among themselves agree to have waived the strict provisions of the rule, prudence and common sense dictate here that the State was not required to obtain a second extension of time. The parties implicitly agreed to extend the February 5 deadline to March 15, thereby suspending the running of the six-month requirement of the rule until the period ending September 15. As trial actually commenced on September 6, Sanchez may not argue that he was not tried timely.

We acknowledge the latent ambiguity created by our use of the word "toll" in State v. Flores, 99 N.M. 44, 653 P.2d 875 (1982), as it applies to the six-month rule. "Toll" denotes "to bar, defeat, or take away," as in "to toll the statute of limitations," which denotes "to show facts which remove its bar of the action." Black's Law Dictionary 1334 (5th ed. 1979). Yet, "toll" may not have been the best word choice to use in this situation, because a statute of limitations may be tolled for a period of time, and then recommence in such a way that the remainder of the period remaining under the statute is extended by the period tolled. Thus, for example, a two-year statute of limitations tolled for three months is extended to two years and three months past the starting point of the statutory period.

Here, however, the six-month provision of the rule is not interrupted and then recommenced. Instead, the six-month period simply does not apply during a time in which one of the circumstances contemplated by the rule is in effect. When such a circumstance is no longer in effect, then a new six-month period in its entirety applies. Because of the ambiguity created by our earlier use of "toll," we refrained from using that word in our recent opinion of State v. Mendoza, 108 N.M. 446, 774 P.2d 440 (1989). Instead, we spoke of "suspen sion of the proceedings." Id. at 449, 774 P.2d at 443.

Mendoza is controlling here. In Mendoza the circumstance which suspended the operation of the rule was a mutually pursued mental exam to determine competency. In both cases our reasoning is the same. As in Mendoza, so, too, here, "the delay [was] clearly for the benefit of the defendant who cannot stand trial until the issue of [the plea bargain] has been properly assessed." Id. "During the time an accused's [plea bargain] is being assessed, he or she is unavailable for trial. Regardless of who initiates the proceeding a [pending plea bargain] is clearly on behalf of the accused and in no way infringes on that person's speedy trial rights." Id. "[Such a delay is] chargeable to the defendant and must be excluded from any speedy trial analysis. A common sense approach of [Rule 5-604(B)(7) ] mandates this interpretation." Id.

(II)...