Opinion ID: 2636950
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: antillon's attempts to perfect the record

Text: {6} In New Mexico, [t]he defense of double jeopardy may not be waived and may be raised by the accused at any stage of a criminal prosecution, either before or after judgment. NMSA 1978, § 30-1-10 (1963). However, such a defense must be supported by a factual basis in the record. See State v. Wood, 117 N.M. 682, 687, 875 P.2d 1113, 1118 (Ct.App.1994). The State contends that Antillon's appeal should be dismissed because the record does not contain copies of either the forfeiture complaint or the judgment and sentence forfeiting the 1988 Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck. Without proof in the record of both his criminal conviction and his civil forfeiture, there is no basis for Antillon's argument that he was twice placed in jeopardy. We may not review matters that are outside the record. See State v. Romero, 87 N.M. 279, 280, 532 P.2d 208, 209 (Ct.App.1975) (refusing to review trial court's refusal to grant motion to suppress because record did not include transcript of hearing on that motion). {7} Antillon made a motion to the trial court to supplement the record with these documents, but the motion was denied. See Denial of Mot. to Perfect, at 2. Antillon did not appeal the order denying this motion, and these documents were never made part of the record before this Court. For these reasons, the State urges us to dismiss Antillon's case. {8} The district court's denial of Antillon's motion to perfect the record raises several troubling questions. We first note that the reason the trial court denied Antillon's motion to perfect the record appears to have been because [t]he time for appeal on the civil forfeiture matter has expired. Id. at 2. The court's rationale is perplexing and unresponsive because Antillon was appealing his criminal conviction and not the civil forfeiture matter. He filed the January 1996 motion to perfect the record because he needed the forfeiture documents to support his double-jeopardy defense to his criminal convictiona defense he had earlier raised in his November 1995 docketing statement filed with the Court of Appeals. {9} Second, the claim that the time for appeal had expired also appears to miss the mark. A notice of appeal must be filed within thirty (30) days after the judgment or order appealed from is filed in the district court clerk's office. Rule 12-201(A) NMRA 1999. The default forfeiture judgment was filed on July 28, 1995. However, the judgment in the criminal case was not filed until October 2, 1995. That same day, Antillon's notice of appeal in the criminal case was mailed to the Court of Appeals. Antillon never appealed the civil forfeiture but he did timely file his appeal of the criminal judgment. {10} Third, the trial court's concern that the time for appeal had passed is also misplaced in light of Section 30-1-10, which declares that the defense of double jeopardy may be raised by the accused at any stage of a criminal prosecution, either before or after judgment. See also State v. Edwards, 102 N.M. 413, 415, 696 P.2d 1006, 1008 (Ct. App.1984) (defense of double jeopardy can be raised for the first time on appeal). On November 7, 1995, Antillon filed his docketing statement with the Court of Appeals, which is the first appearance in the record of the double-jeopardy issue. Antillon could not have raised a double-jeopardy claim until he was twice placed in jeopardy. Jeopardy attached in the civil forfeiture when the default judgment was filed on July 24, 1995, and in the criminal conviction when the court accepted the guilty plea on August 29, 1995. Nunez, 2000-NMSC-013, ¶¶ 28-31, ___ N.M. ___, 2 P.3d 264 (discussing the moments when jeopardy attaches in both criminal and civil actions). This August date is the earliest point at which Antillon would have been subjected to double jeopardy, although as explained above, his thirty-day time limit in which to file an appeal did not begin until the criminal judgment was filed in October. {11} Fourth, we are concerned with the unfairness of the court's denial of Antillon's motion to perfect. In accordance with his responsibility to include the forfeiture documents into the record, Antillon, in the second week of January 1996, filed with the district court a motion to perfect the appellate record. See Nichols v. Nichols, 98 N.M. 322, 325, 648 P.2d 780, 783 (1982) (appellant bears primary burden of properly preparing the record on appeal); State ex rel. State Highway Comm'n v. Sherman, 82 N.M. 316, 318, 481 P.2d 104, 106 (1971); Westland Dev. Co. v. Saavedra, 80 N.M. 615, 618, 459 P.2d 141, 144 (1969). A few days later, on January 16, 1996, Antillon filed two documents with the Court of Appeals: a Defendant-Appellant's Motion to Supplement Record on Appeal and an Amendment to Defendant-Appellant's Motion to Supplement Record on Appeal. As indicated above, the district court denied the motion to perfect. See Denial of Mot. to Perfect, at 2. There is nothing in the record to indicate the disposition of the Motion and Amendment submitted to the Court of Appeals. {12} These thwarted attempts by Antillon to perfect the record raise fundamental issues. Since, under Section 30-1-10, the defense of double jeopardy cannot be waived, and since, in many cases, double jeopardy can only be raised for the first time on appeal, it is unjust to prevent the defendant from including evidence relevant to that defense in the record proper. The New Mexico Constitution does not permit such a result. Because it is in the interest of justice to allow the parties to properly present their claims on appeal, the court rule regarding the correction or modification of the record proper is broadly worded: If anything material to either party is omitted from the record proper by error or accident, the parties by stipulation, or the district court or the appellate court on motion or on its own initiative, may direct that the omission be corrected, and a supplemental record proper transmitted to the appellate court. Rule 12-209(C) NMRA 1999. The trial court erred in denying Antillon's motion to introduce evidence relevant to his double-jeopardy claim.