State v. Santillanes
| Decision Date | 02 January 1970 |
| Docket Number | No. 361,361 |
| Citation | 1970 NMCA 3,81 N.M. 185,464 P.2d 915 |
| Parties | STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Danny SANTILLANES and Richard Tony Farmer, Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | Court of Appeals of New Mexico |
Defendants, Danny Santillanes and Richard Tony Farmer, were jointly tried to a jury and convicted of violating § 40A--16--2, N.M.S.A.1953 (robbery). Each of the defendants has separately appealed from the judgment; with but one exception to be noted, they present like questions for determination here. Both defendants contend that the trial court erred in denying their motions to dismiss and for directed verdicts. They further contend that the trial court erred in denying their motions for mistrial based upon claimed prejudicial remarks of the prosecutor. The defendant, Farmer, additionally asserts error in the denial of his motion to exclude certain evidence. The motions to dismiss and for directed verdicts challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to support the convictions.
Robbery is * * * the theft of anything of value from the person of another or from the immediate control of another, by use or threatened use or force or violence.' Section 40A--16--2, supra. The facts which merit consideration in determining the issues presented are the following:
Sergeant Ramon Gonzales (U.S.M.C.) returned on leave to Albuquerque from Viet Nam and went directly from the bus station to a bar in downtown Albuquerque, arriving there at about 10:30 p.m. He remained at the bar until approximately 1:45 a.m. According to his testimony he had his wallet with him when he left the bar with $110.00 in it consisting of five twenty dollar bills and one ten dollar bill which he testified he knew had been in his wallet when he left the bus station.
Upon leaving the bar, Gonzales walked toward the bus station. When he reached a point approximately a block from the bar and near the corner of Fifth Street and Central Avenue, he testified that he '* * * turned around and was jumped, and * * * more or less dropped.' Upon being asked, 'Did you know whoever jumped you or whatever happened?', he answered, 'No, I didn't.' He further testified that the next thing he remembered was coming to at his home lying on the living room floor bleeding, at which time he found both his wallet and wristwatch missing. He was taken to the hospital, treated for concussion and a broken jaw.
It appears from the testimony of one Edward Sanchez that he had been working as a security man at the bar and left at 1:55 a.m. after the bar had closed. Sanchez drove his car in a northerly direction from the bar and upon reaching a point near the corner of Fifth Street and Central Avenue he said: * * *' Sanchez further testified:
The police were notified and promptly arrived at the corner of Fifth and Central Avenue where Gonzales was found in a semiconscious condition. The police, after interrogating Sanchez, attempted to give aid to Gonzales. A description of the suspects was broadcast over the police radio and Officer Gagliardi and Officer Emsing of the Albuquerque Police Department received the report of the incident. As they proceeded west on Central toward the scene of the crime, Officer Gagliardi testified they '* * * saw two subjects walking at a fast pace, they were walking north and turned into the Court Cafe.'
Officer Gagliardi went into the cafe, then into its restroom from which one of the defendants was exiting and in which the other was combing his hair. Gagliardi then left the cafe, went out to confer with Emsing about the description of the subjects. Both officers then went into the cafe and saw the defendants sitting in the booth nearest the restroom. Officer Emsing stood by the booth and Officer Gagliardi went back in the restroom and searched it and there found a wallet, identified by Gonzales as his, in the water tank of the commode. The defendants were then arrested and taken to the city jail. Officer Emsing testified that about five minutes after the arrest had been made he returned to the cafe and began searching the area around the booth in which the defendants had been sitting. In the course of the search he found $110.00 in denominations consisting of five twenty dollar bills and one ten dollar bill stuffed down between the wall and the booth on the side that defendant Farmer was sitting. He likewise found a gold colored Bulova watch, later identified by Gonzales, on the floor in the booth. Santillanes and Farmer were identified by Sanchez as the two men he saw going through Gonzales' pockets.
The defendants contend that the evidence is insufficient to support the verdicts and that all of the evidence which resulted in their conviction is circumstantial and fails to exclude every reasonable hypothesis consistent with innocence. State v. Seal, 75 N.M. 608, 409 P.2d 128 (1965); State v. Slade, 78 N.M. 581, 434 P.2d 700 (Ct.App.1967).
Proof sufficient to sustain a conviction of the crime of robbery involves proof of two distinct propositions: first, the theft of something of value from the person of another or from the immediate control of another by use or threatened use of force or violence, and, second, such theft being done by the person or persons charged; in other words, proof of the corpus delicti and the identity of the accused. See State v. Nance, 77 N.M. 39, 419 P.2d 242 (1966), cert. denied 386 U.S. 1039, 87 S.Ct. 1495, 18 L.Ed.2d 605 (1967), and People v. Brooks, 334 Ill. 549, 166 N.E. 35 (1929). Circumstantial evidence may suffice to establish the corpus delicti. State v. Paris, 76 N.M. 291, 414 P.2d 512 (1966). It may also suffice as proof of the identity of the perpetrator of a crime. State v. Williamson, 78 N.M. 751, 438 P.2d 161 (1968), cert. denied 393...
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State v. Jimenez, 34,375
...erroneously or not—the prosecutor was free to comment on it. Compare State v. Santillanes , 1970-NMCA-003, ¶¶ 13-14, 81 N.M. 185, 464 P.2d 915 (explaining that the remarks of prosecutor during closing were not improper because they were based on facts in evidence), with State v. Cummings , ......
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State v. Turner
...United States, 260 F.2d 377 (10th Cir. 1958); cert. denied, 358 U.S. 929, 79 S.Ct. 315, 3 L.Ed.2d 302 (1959); see State v. Santillanes, 81 N.M. 185, 464 P.2d 915 (Ct.App.) decided January 2, 1970. Defendant claims there was no evidence of these collateral offenses since they came into the c......
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State ex rel. Schiff v. Madrid
...321, 323 (1953). Counsel are generally given wide latitude in commenting upon the evidence in closing arguments. State v. Santillanes, 81 N.M. 185, 464 P.2d 915 (Ct.App.1970). However, defense counsel in the present case delved into impermissible areas outside the evidence and drew inferenc......
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State v. Taylor
...evidence, State v. Herrera, 84 N.M. 46, 499 P.2d 364 (Ct.App.), cert. denied, 84 N.M. 37, 499 P.2d 355 (1972); State v. Santillanes, 81 N.M. 185, 464 P.2d 915 (Ct.App.1970), or be properly in response to the defendant's argument. State v. Montoya, 95 N.M. 433, 622 P.2d 1053 (Ct.App.1981). W......