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

• On April 2, 2013, two officers were dispatched to an apartment complex parking lot due to a shooting. They found the Victim next to an SUV, bleeding from a head wound. The Victim was later pronounced dead from a gunshot wound. Earlier, the Victim had borrowed money from Margarita, his sister-in-law. After leaving her apartment, Victim was found by Margarita in his SUV with a gunshot wound. A search of the Victim's SUV led to the seizure of his cell phone, which showed calls to and from a number not saved as a contact. This number was later tied to the Defendant, leading to his indictment for first-degree felony murder (paras 2-6).

Procedural History

• District Court of Bernalillo County: The district court suppressed the cell-site location information (CSLI) and call/text records obtained from the Defendant's cell phone provider, ruling that the affidavit for the search warrant established probable cause for the subscriber information but not for the CSLI and call/text records.

Parties' Submissions

• Defendant: Argued that the affidavit failed to establish probable cause for the cell phone records as it only showed that the Victim's phone had dialed and received calls from the Defendant's number, which alone does not constitute substantial evidence of probable cause (para 7).
• State: Asserted that the affidavit established probable cause for the district court to issue the search warrant, thereby justifying the seizure of the cell phone records (para 7).

Legal Issues

• Whether the affidavit for the search warrant provided probable cause to obtain the Defendant's cell phone subscriber information, CSLI, and call/text records.

Disposition

• The Supreme Court of the State of New Mexico affirmed in part and reversed in part the district court's order, granting the motion to suppress as to the CSLI and call/text records and denying the motion as to the subscriber information (para 24).

Reasons

• The Supreme Court, per Justice Michael E. Vigil, held that the totality of circumstances described in the affidavit provided a substantial basis for the issuing judge to find probable cause that the unknown person talking to the Victim was in the vicinity of the parking lot when the conversations took place before the Victim was shot, thus affirming the issuing judge’s finding of probable cause as to the CSLI. The Court also concluded that the affidavit established probable cause to identify the owner of the cell phone and that records showing other calls or text messages between the Defendant's phone and the Victim's phone contained evidence of the crime. However, the Court disagreed with the district court's ruling that there was no probable cause to obtain the Defendant's CSLI and call/text records, thereby reversing this part of the district court's order (paras 16-23).