Opinion ID: 1345613
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: claim of denial of due process

Text: Defendant also asserts the approximately eight-month delay between his arrest in December 1985 and his indictment in August 1986 deprived him of due process because the unavailability of two potential witnesses impaired his defense. At the July 1987 pretrial hearing on defendant's motion to dismiss the indictment, defendant's wife testified that a friend, Flora Garcia, and another woman unknown to the Zurlas waited in the car while she and defendant were in K-Mart. Garcia moved to California at some unspecified time after defendant's arrest. Defendant argues the delay caused prejudice to his defense because Garcia was no longer available at the time of trial. He argues the prejudice exists because she might have seen the arrest and thus corroborate his story that he was arrested inside the store. However, none of the testimony at the hearing supports his contention. There was no evidence presented that Garcia or the other unknown woman saw anything. In fact, Mrs. Zurla testified upon direct examination that the car was parked a little bit far, so the two women could not have seen the store doors. Defendant admitted in his brief that he could not establish conclusively what these witnesses would have been able to testify about. To prevail on a claim that prosecutorial delay caused a deprivation of due process, the defendant must show the delay caused substantial prejudice, that is, his defense would have been more successful absent the delay. State v. Duran, 91 N.M. 756, 757, 581 P.2d 19, 20 (1978); State v. Lewis, 107 N.M. 182, 754 P.2d 853 (Ct.App. 1988). Substantial prejudice means actual prejudice to the defendant together with unreasonable delay of the prosecution. State v. Duran, 91 N.M. at 757-58, 581 P.2d at 20-21. Lapse of time alone is insufficient to establish prejudice. Id. at 757, 582 P.2d at 20; State v. Jojola, 89 N.M. 489, 490, 553 P.2d 1296, 1297 (Ct.App. 1976). Defendant has failed to show the substantial prejudice required to obtain dismissal of the indictment under the fourteenth amendment. Defendant has made no showing that the potential defense witnesses were unavailable because of the delay or that he made any attempt to contact them. Moreover, the record does not reflect when Garcia left New Mexico. More importantly, defendant has not shown how the witnesses' absence prejudiced his defense. He has only made vague, unsupported allegations that they might have seen the arrest and, thus, might have been able to corroborate his version. As noted above, there is no evidence in the record to support this allegation, since defendant's wife admitted that the women were too far from the crime scene to have observed anything. Proof of prejudice must be definite and not speculative. State v. Lewis . The mere possibility of the existence of exculpatory evidence cannot suffice to show prejudice to the defense. Rather, defendant must establish with specificity the critical testimony which [he] assert[s] has been lost or whether this evidence is available from other sources. State v. Grissom, 106 N.M. at 566, 746 P.2d at 672. Because defendant has failed to do so, the trial court properly denied his motion to dismiss on due process grounds.