Opinion ID: 1124291
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: the swafford analysis

Text: (22) In Swafford v. State, 112 N.M. 3, 8, 810 P.2d 1223, 1228 (1991), we adopted a two-part test to analyze whether double jeopardy has been violated. The first step is to ask whether the conduct underlying the offenses is unitary, i.e., whether the same conduct of the defendant violates more than one statute. Id. at 13, 810 P.2d at 1233. The second step is to ask whether the Legislature intended to impose multiple punishments for the unitary conduct. Id. at 13, 810 P.2d at 1233. Only if the first part of the test is answered in the affirmative, and the second in the negative, will the double jeopardy clause prohibit multiple punishment in the same trial. Id. (23) We assume, without deciding, that unitary conduct is at issue in this case, thus satisfying the first prong of the Swafford test. Next, we must ask whether the Legislature intended multiple punishment for the unitary conduct, and we must apply this analysis to each of Defendant's claims of double jeopardy. We answer the question of whether the Legislature intended multiple punishments for unitary conduct by asking whether each statute proscribing the offense requires proof of a fact the other does not. See Swafford, 112 N.M. at 14, 810 P.2d at 1234 (adopting in part the elements test articulated by the United States Supreme Court in Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 52 S.Ct. 180, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932)). In Swafford, this Court stated that if one statute is subsumed within the other, the inquiry is over and the statutes are the same for double jeopardy purposes . . . 112 N.M. at 14, 810 P.2d at 1234. Where one statute is not subsumed within the other, the presumption is that the Legislature intended to punish wrongdoers of both offenses separately. Id. at 15, 810 P.2d at 1235. This presumption is not conclusive and may be rebutted by a showing of contrary legislative intent. Id. (24) Defendant claims that his convictions for accessory to assault with intent to commit a violent felony (robbery), accessory to aggravated battery with great bodily harm, and accessory to false imprisonment violate double jeopardy, and all should merge into a single offense. We will analyze this claim by examining each offense and comparing it with each of the other two offenses.