Court of Appeals of New Mexico
Decision Information
Rule Set 12 - Rules of Appellate Procedure - cited by 9,546 documents
Rule Set 5 - Rules of Criminal Procedure for the District Courts - cited by 2,182 documents
Citations - New Mexico Appellate Reports
State v. Chavarria - cited by 87 documents
State v. Rudy B. - cited by 115 documents
State v. Trammell - cited by 34 documents
Decision Content
STATE V. MACIAS
This memorandum opinion was not selected for publication in the New Mexico Appellate 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 Please see Rule 12-405 NMRA for restrictions on the citation of unpublished memorandum opinions.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,
v.
DAMIEN MACIAS,
Defendant-Appellant.
NO. A-1-CA-36989
COURT OF APPEALS OF NEW MEXICO
September 12, 2018
APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF CHAVES COUNTY, Kea W.
Riggs, District Judge
COUNSEL
Hector H. Balderas, Attorney General, Santa Fe, NM, for Appellee
Bennett J. Baur, Chief Public Defender, William O’Connell, Assistant Appellate Defender, Santa Fe, NM, for Appellant
JUDGES
MICHAEL E. VIGIL, Judge. WE CONCUR: J. MILES HANISEE, Judge, JENNIFER L. ATTREP, Judge
MEMORANDUM OPINION
VIGIL, Judge.
{1} Defendant Damien Macias appeals from a judgment and sentence rendered pursuant to a plea. We previously issued a notice of proposed summary disposition in which we proposed to dismiss. Defendant has filed a memorandum in opposition. After due consideration, we remain unpersuaded that this matter is properly before us. We therefore dismiss.
{2} As we previously observed, a guilty or no contest plea generally operates as a waiver of the right to appeal the resultant conviction(s) and sentence. State v. Chavarria, 2009-NMSC-020, ¶ 16, 146 N.M. 251, 208 P.3d 896 (“[T]he constitutional right to appeal is waivable, and a defendant who knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily pleads guilty, waives the right to appeal his conviction and sentence.”). In his memorandum in opposition Defendant tacitly acknowledges this principle, [MIO 1-2] but maintains that the sentence should be subject to challenge on appeal because it “exceeded what [he] believes was allowed by the plea agreement.” [MIO 1] However, the sentence is clearly within the range specified in the plea agreement, [RP 66-67, 79-80] and in any event, Defendant’s argument is not jurisdictional. See State v. Rudy B., 2010-NMSC-045, ¶ 13, 149 N.M. 22, 243 P.3d 726 (observing that “a plea agreement is simply a contract between the [s]tate and an accused that affects the rights of the parties but not the court’s jurisdiction”). Accordingly, we remain unpersuaded that the argument is properly before us. See id. ¶¶ 9-10, 18 (observing that appellate review of a sentence is limited to jurisdictional errors where a defendant does not challenge the validity of a plea agreement itself, and ultimately dismissing an appeal under analogous circumstances).
{3} Finally, to the extent that Defendant seeks to withdraw his plea, [MIO 1-2] that question appears to remain pending before the district court [RP 179], and we remain unpersuaded that it is properly before us. See State v. Trammell, 2016-NMSC-030, ¶ 15, 387 P.3d 220 (observing, in a case where the defendant moved to withdraw his plea six years after the entry of the judgment and sentence, that the motion might have been properly treated by the district court as a petition for habeas corpus relief under Rule 5-802 NMRA; and thus, when the district court ruled on the motion, the ensuing appeal should have been to the Supreme Court).
{4} Accordingly, for the reasons stated above and in the notice of proposed summary disposition, we dismiss.
{5} IT IS SO ORDERED.
MICHAEL E. VIGIL, Judge
WE CONCUR:
J. MILES HANISEE, Judge
JENNIFER L. ATTREP, Judge