Opinion ID: 6536853
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Garcia was correctly decided

Text: {213} Garcia construed Section 31-20A-4(C)(4) as limiting the pool of comparison cases to those in which a defendant was convicted under the same aggravating circumstance(s) and then received either the death penalty or life imprisonment Garcia , 1983-NMSC-008 , ¶ 34, 99 N.M. 771 , 664 P.2d 969 . The Majority takes issue with this, but I fail to see how this construction is flawed or unworkable. Two points are offered in defense of Garcia . {214} First, Section 31-20A-4 is closely related to Georgia's death-penalty statute. Ruth Musgrave Silver, Constitutionality of the New Mexico Capital Punishment Statute , 11 N.M. L. Rev. 269 , 286 (1981). Georgia's statute requires that the state supreme court obtain and preserve records of all capital cases in which the death penalty was imposed after January 1, 1970 so that similar cases may be compared. Id. The CFSA does not include a similar requirement. Why did our Legislature not include in the CFSA a comparable provision? It must be because our Legislature did not intend this Court to engage in the type of searching inquiry the Majority now claims Section 31-20A-4(C)(4) requires. {215} Second, Section 31-20A-4(C)(4) states that the inquiry into the excessiveness or disproportionality of a death sentence is one evaluated with respect to the penalty imposed in similar cases and must take into account both the crime and the defendant. The manner in which the statute uses the words cases and crime is suggestive. {216} Section 31-20A-4(C)(4) 's use of these two words confirms that the Legislature clearly understood they have distinct and different meanings. See Norman J. Singer and Shambie Singer, 2A Sutherland Statutes and Statutory Construction § 46:6 (7th ed. 2014). A murder case is a specific iteration of murder involving a specific set of facts. This is distinct from murder as a crime, a concept that would encompass a wide array of different types of murder cases. Section 31-20A-4(C)(4) 's use of the phrase similar cases suggests that the pool of cases for comparison should be comprised of a limited number of cases closely mirroring the murder for which a defendant received the death sentence. Garcia does just this.