Court of Appeals of New Mexico
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Rule Set 12 - Rules of Appellate Procedure - cited by 9,502 documents
Citations - New Mexico Appellate Reports
State v. Schoonmaker - cited by 146 documents
Decision Content
STATE V. MUNIZ
This memorandum opinion was not selected for publication in the New Mexico Reports. Please see Rule 12-405 NMRA for restrictions on the citation of unpublished memorandum opinions. Please also note that this electronic memorandum opinion may contain computer-generated errors or other deviations from the official paper version filed by the Court of Appeals and does not include the filing date.
STATE OF NEW MEXICO,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
vs.
ALFREDO MUNIZ,
Defendant-Appellant.
No. 30,496 (Otero County CR-2008-299)
COURT OF APPEALS OF NEW MEXICO
December 17, 2010
APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF ORTERO COUNTY, James
Waylon Counts, District Judge
COUNSEL
Gary K. King, Attorney General, Margaret McLean, Assistant Attorney General, Santa Fe, NM, for Appellee
Hugh W. Dangler, Chief Public Defender, Nina Lalevic, Assistant Appellate Defender, Santa Fe, NM, for Appellant
JUDGES
JONATHAN B. SUTIN, Judge. WE CONCUR: CYNTHIA A. FRY, Chief Judge, TIMOTHY L. GARCIA, Judge
AUTHOR:
MEMORANDUM OPINION
SUTIN, Judge.
Defendant appeals his conviction of two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor. In our second notice, we proposed to reverse and remand the merger of the two counts and affirm denial of Defendant’s motion to suppress his statement made to police. Both Defendant and the State have responded to our proposed disposition. Having considered their arguments, we reverse and remand for vacation of one count and for resentencing of Defendant. We affirm the denial of the motion to suppress.
The State agrees that reversal is warranted on the merger issue. Defendant likewise agrees with our proposal to reverse. Therefore, for the reasons stated in our second calendar notice, we reverse and remand to the district court to vacate one of the convictions and resentence Defendant. See State v. Schoonmaker, 2008-NMSC-010, ¶ 50, 143 N.M. 373, 176 P.3d 1105 (stating that double jeopardy requires one of the convictions to be vacated).
With regard to our proposal to affirm the denial of Defendant’s motion to suppress statements that he made to police, Defendant continues to oppose our proposal. He continues to argue that he was not free to leave as the police already knew they were going to arrest him and were simply waiting until he gave an incriminating statement to do it. [DMIO 2]
As we pointed out in both our first and second notices, there is nothing in the record suggesting that the police were going to arrest him regardless of what statement he made. Rather, everything in the record shows that he was free to leave at any time during his statement. [RP 104-05, 240, 242] He was not in custody when he was asked to come to the police station to talk to police.
For the reasons stated in the first and second calendar notices, we affirm the denial of Defendant’s motion to suppress his statement made to police.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
JONATHAN B. SUTIN, Judge
WE CONCUR:
CYNTHIA A. FRY, Chief Judge
TIMOTHY L. GARCIA, Judge