AI Generated Opinion Summaries

This summary was computer-generated without any editorial revision. It is not official, has not been checked for accuracy, and is NOT citable.

Facts

• A detective testified before a grand jury that the Defendant had engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with a seven-year-old, including touching over clothing and soliciting the minor to touch him. This testimony led to the Defendant being charged with multiple offenses, including various degrees of criminal sexual contact of a minor, kidnapping, child abuse, tampering with evidence, and bribery of a witness (paras 1-2).

Procedural History

• [Not applicable or not found]

Parties' Submissions

• Plaintiff-Appellee (State of New Mexico): Argued that the grand jury indictment was valid and that the prosecutor's leading questions and the evidence presented were sufficient for the charges.
• Defendant-Appellant (Chad Deignan): Contended that the prosecutor's use of leading questions led to an indictment based on insufficient evidence and that the prosecutor failed to properly instruct the grand jury on the elements of the crimes charged in the indictment (paras 4, 6, 9, 12).

Legal Issues

• Whether the prosecutor's use of leading questions and the presentation of evidence to the grand jury constituted bad faith, leading to an indictment based on insufficient evidence.
• Whether the prosecutor failed to properly instruct the grand jury on the elements of the crimes charged in the indictment, constituting structural error requiring dismissal of certain counts (paras 4, 6, 9, 12).

Disposition

• The court affirmed the district court's denial of the Defendant's motion to dismiss the counts in the indictment charging the Defendant with second-degree criminal sexual contact of a minor (CSCM), kidnapping, and intentional or in the alternative negligent child abuse.
• The court reversed the district court's denial of the motion to dismiss the counts charging the Defendant with attempted second-degree CSCM, third-degree CSCM, and bribery of a witness, and remanded the case to the district court with instructions to dismiss those three counts without prejudice (para 14).

Reasons

• The court, with an opinion authored by Judge J. Miles Hanisee and concurrence from Judges James J. Wechsler and Timothy L. Garcia, held that:
  The use of leading questions by the prosecutor, while not preferred, did not constitute bad faith as defined by NMSA 1978, Section 31-6-11(A). The court interpreted "bad faith" to mean dishonesty of belief, purpose, or motive, and found no evidence of such intent by the prosecutor (paras 4, 6).
  The court distinguished the present case from precedent by noting that the detective provided a lengthy narrative response to open-ended questions, and the leading questions served to summarize this testimony. This approach did not compromise the grand jury's independent determination of probable cause (paras 7-9).
  The court agreed with the Defendant that the prosecutor's incorrect instructions on the elements of certain crimes to the grand jury constituted structural error, requiring dismissal of the counts of third-degree CSCM, attempted second-degree CSCM, and bribery of a witness without prejudice (paras 12-13).