State v. Santillanes

• Decision Date: 29 June 2001
• Docket Number: No. 26,170.,26,170.
• Citation: 130 N.M. 464,27 P.3d 456,2001 NMSC 18
• Parties: STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Petitioner, v. Nathan SANTILLANES, Defendant-Respondent.
• Court: New Mexico Supreme Court

27 P.3d 456

130 N.M. 464

2001 NMSC 18

STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Petitioner, v. Nathan SANTILLANES, Defendant-Respondent.

No. 26,170.

Supreme Court of New Mexico.

June 29, 2001.

Patricia A. Madrid, Attorney General, Jacqueline R. Medina, Assistant Attorney General, Santa Fe, NM, for Petitioner.

Phyllis H. Subin, Chief Public Defender, Lisa N. Cassidy, Assistant Appellate Defender, Santa Fe, NM, for Respondent.

OPINION

SERNA, Chief Justice.

{1} Following a jury trial, Defendant Nathan Santillanes was convicted of five counts of vehicular homicide, see NMSA 1978, § 66-8-101(C) (1991), four counts of child abuse resulting in death, see NMSA 1978, § 30-6-1(C) (1989, prior to 1997 amendment), one count of driving while intoxicated (DWI), fourth offense, see NMSA 1978, § 66-8-102(A), (G) (1994, prior to 1997 & 1999 amendments), one count of reckless driving, see NMSA 1978, § 66-8-113 (1987), and four other counts of various violations of the Motor Vehicle Code, NMSA 1978, § 66-1-1 to -8-141 (1978, as amended through 1996, prior to later amendment). On direct appeal, the Court of Appeals reversed the four convictions of child abuse resulting in death based on the principle of double jeopardy and the Court's interpretation of the general/specific statute rule. State v. Santillanes, 2000-NMCA-017, ¶ 1, 128 N.M. 752, 998 P.2d 1203, cert. denied, 128 N.M. 689, 997 P.2d 821 and cert. granted, 128 N.M. 690, 997 P.2d 822 (2000). This Court granted the State's petition for writ of certiorari to the Court of Appeals.¹ We conclude that the Court of Appeals misapplied the general/specific statute rule. Therefore, we now reverse the Court of Appeals, reinstate the convictions for child abuse resulting in death, and remand to the district court with instructions to vacate four counts of vehicular homicide.

I. Facts and Procedural Background

{2} On September 28, 1996, Defendant drove a vehicle down Highway 60 in Socorro County. Defendant's three children, his girlfriend, and her niece were passengers in the vehicle. As Defendant attempted to make a left hand turn at an intersection, his vehicle collided with an oncoming truck. All five passengers in Defendant's vehicle were killed as a result of the collision. Defendant had a blood alcohol level of .15 at the time of the accident, and Defendant admitted to the police that he consumed six beers during that day.

{3} In relation to the five deaths, Defendant was convicted of nine counts of two forms of homicide, which included five counts of vehicular homicide and four counts of child abuse resulting in death. The district court sentenced Defendant to eighteen years' imprisonment for each count of child abuse resulting in death and ordered three of these sentences to be served consecutively. Because Defendant had three prior DWI convictions, the district court sentenced Defendant to twelve years' imprisonment for each count of vehicular homicide pursuant to Section 66-8-101(D). The district court ordered that all five vehicular homicide convictions, as well as six other counts for which Defendant was convicted, run concurrently with the three consecutive sentences for child abuse resulting in death. Accounting for consecutive and concurrent sentencing, as well as a habitual offender enhancement of four years' imprisonment for two prior felony convictions, the district court ultimately sentenced Defendant to a total of fifty-eight years imprisonment.

II. The Court of Appeals' Rationale

{4} Defendant appealed his convictions to the Court of Appeals. Defendant contended that his convictions of both vehicular homicide and child abuse resulting in death for the same four victims violated the double jeopardy protection against multiple punishments for the same offense.

{5} In reviewing Defendant's contention, the Court of Appeals applied the two-part test set out by this Court in Swafford v. State, 112 N.M. 3, 13, 810 P.2d 1223, 1233 (1991), which asks first whether the underlying conduct of the accused for the violation of both statutes is unitary and second, if the conduct is unitary, whether the Legislature intended to establish separately punishable offenses. Santillanes, 2000-NMCA-017, ¶ 4, 128 N.M. 752, 998 P.2d 1203. As we emphasized in Swafford, "the sole limitation on multiple punishments is legislative intent." 112 N.M. at 13, 810 P.2d at 1233. The Court of Appeals determined that Defendant's conduct resulting in the vehicular homicide and child abuse resulting in death convictions was unitary. Santillanes, 2000-NMCA-017, ¶¶ 5-6, 128 N.M. 752, 998 P.2d 1203. Additionally, the Court of Appeals determined that the elements of the crimes of vehicular homicide and child abuse resulting in death are distinct and that "the two statutes stand independently," thereby raising a presumption that the statutes punish distinct offenses. Id. ¶ 7. However, the Court concluded that "the generally accepted notion that one death should result in only one homicide conviction" overcomes the presumption of multiple punishment. Id. ¶ 8. "[I]t is the death of another that the Legislature intended to punish, not the manner in which it was accomplished." Id. As a result, the convictions for both vehicular homicide and child abuse resulting in death for the same four victims constituted a double jeopardy violation. Id. We agree with this multiple punishment analysis. See State v. Cooper, 1997-NMSC-058, ¶ 53, 124 N.M. 277, 949 P.2d 660.

{6} Having concluded that the convictions resulted in a double jeopardy violation, the Court of Appeals addressed which of the convictions must be vacated. Santillanes, 2000-NMCA-017, ¶ 9, 128 N.M. 752, 998 P.2d 1203. The Court noted that "the general rule requires that the lesser offense be vacated" and that the lesser offense in this case is vehicular homicide. Id. However, the Court decided that this rule did not apply to the two statutes at issue in this case because of the general/specific statute rule. Id.

{7} The general/specific statute rule is a tool in statutory construction. State v. Cleve, 1999-NMSC-017, ¶ 17, 127 N.M. 240, 980 P.2d 23. Under this rule, if two statutes dealing with the same subject conflict, the more specific statute will prevail over the more general statute absent a clear expression of legislative intent to the contrary. Id. The specific statute operates as an exception to the general statute "because the Legislature is presumed not to have intended a conflict between two of its statutes and because the Legislature's attention is more particularly directed to the relevant subject matter in deliberating upon the special law." Id. If two criminal laws punish the same criminal conduct, the general/specific statute rule "`compel[s] the state to prosecute under' the special law." Id. (quoting State v. Blevins, 40 N.M. 367, 369, 60 P.2d 208, 210 (1936)).

{8} Applying the general/specific statute rule, the Court of Appeals relied on language from our opinion in State v. Yarborough, 1996-NMSC-068, 122 N.M. 596, 930 P.2d 131, and determined that "[t]he Legislature's enactment of a comprehensive Motor Vehicle Code indicates to us `a legislative intent to preempt the field.'" Santillanes, 2000-NMCA-017, ¶ 11, 128 N.M. 752, 998 P.2d 1203 (quoting Yarborough, 1996-NMSC-068, ¶ 27, 122 N.M. 596, 930 P.2d 131) (citation omitted). The Court of Appeals thus concluded that the crime of vehicular homicide, being "the crime described in the Motor Vehicle Code[,] is the specific offense and is the law that the State is compelled to prosecute under." Id. As additional support for its conclusion, the Court of Appeals relied on NMSA 1978, § 66-8-101.1 (1985), which provides that injury to a pregnant woman by the unlawful operation of a vehicle, causing a miscarriage or stillbirth as a result of an injury, is a third degree felony. Santillanes, 2000-NMCA-017, ¶ 12, 128 N.M. 752, 998 P.2d 1203. Comparing Section 66-8-101.1 to the third degree felony of vehicular homicide, the Court of Appeals rejected the notion "that the Legislature intended that the death of a child between birth and eighteen years of age should result in different and considerably greater punishment than the death of an unborn child or an adult, when the conduct causing the death, driving while intoxicated, is the same." Id. As a result, the Court ordered that the four convictions of child abuse resulting in death be vacated. Id. ¶ 13.

{9} On certiorari review, the State does not challenge the Court of Appeals' determination that the convictions in this case violated the prohibition against double jeopardy. The only question presented for our review in this case is which of the two crimes, vehicular homicide or child abuse resulting in death, must be vacated. Our review is de novo. Cleve, 1999-NMSC-017, ¶ 7, 127 N.M. 240, 980 P.2d 23. In answering this question, we first address the Court of Appeals' application of the general/specific statute rule and the Court's determination that the State was compelled to charge vehicular homicide instead of child abuse resulting in death. Concluding that the Court of Appeals erred in its application of the general/specific statute rule, we subsequently address which of the two properly charged crimes must be vacated in light of an infringement on the double jeopardy protection against multiple punishments for the same offense.

III. The General/Specific Statute Rule

{10} In Cleve, we reviewed the use of the general/specific statute rule in New Mexico and attempted to clarify its proper application. 1999-NMSC-017, ¶¶ 16-36, 127 N.M. 240,980 P.2d 23. We recently explained in State v. Guilez, 2000-NMSC-020, ¶ 7, 129 N.M. 240, 4 P.3d 1231, that our analysis from Cleve highlights two connected but distinct aspects of the general/specific statute rule. First, the general/specific statute rule "assists courts more generally in determining whether the Legislature intended to create an exception to a general statute by enacting another law...