Opinion ID: 2599848
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: a habeas petitioner may assert a claim if there is fundamental error even if the issue could have been raised on appeal

Text: {5} We first address the State's argument that Campos is precluded from raising this issue in a habeas petition. The purpose of the writ of habeas corpus is to protect a person from being erroneously deprived of his or her rights. Clark v. Tansy, 118 N.M. 486, 490, 882 P.2d 527, 531 (1994). Thus, rarely are principles of finality applied with the same force in habeas proceedings as they are in ordinary litigation. Id. In the words of the United States Supreme Court, [c]onventional notions of finality of litigation have no place where life or liberty is at stake and infringement of constitutional rights is alleged. Sanders v. United States, 373 U.S. 1, 8, 83 S.Ct. 1068, 10 L.Ed.2d 148 (1963); see also Sobota v. Cox, 355 F.2d 368, 369 (10th Cir.1966) (per curiam) (A fundamental principle of law in [habeas corpus proceedings] is that the rule of res judicata does not apply.). {6} At the district court level, the State asserted that Campos was precluded from raising this issue now because he did not raise it on direct appeal. In its briefing to this Court, however, the State appears to contend that the issue was raised on direct appeal, but denied and, therefore, cannot be relitigated. Although both assert Campos cannot raise his claim in a habeas petition, our review under each theory is distinct. {7} When the State asserts that a habeas petitioner's claim is barred because the same claim was already addressed on appeal, but was denied, the habeas claim is not barred if it is grounded in facts beyond the record previously presented on appeal, and if the additional facts are those which could not, or customarily would not, be developed in a trial on criminal charges. Duncan v. Kerby, 115 N.M. 344, 346, 851 P.2d 466, 468 (1993) (quoted authority omitted). When the State asserts that a habeas petitioner's claim is barred because the petitioner failed to raise the issue on appeal, a different rule applies. A habeas corpus petitioner will not be precluded . . . from raising issues . . . that could have been raised on direct appeal either when fundamental error has occurred, or when an adequate record to address the claim properly was not available on direct appeal. Id. (citation omitted). {8} After reviewing the briefs in Campos's direct appeal and our resulting decision, we conclude that Campos never raised the collateral-felony issue on appeal. See Garcia v. Mora Painting & Decorating, 112 N.M. 596, 601, 817 P.2d 1238, 1243 (Ct.App.1991) (taking judicial notice of briefs filed in another case). Regarding the use of different predicate felonies in support of his felony-murder conviction, the thrust of Campos's argument on appeal was that he did not receive sufficient notice of the predicates to be used because he was not actually charged with those crimes. Nowhere in his brief-in-chief, nor in his reply brief, did Campos assert that his felony-murder conviction violated the collateral-felony doctrine. As a result, on the issue of the predicate felonies used to support his conviction of felony murder, our decision only addressed whether Campos received sufficient notice. Campos, No. 25,715, slip op. at 3-4. Because Campos never raised this issue on appeal and because the record on appeal was clearly adequate to address Campos's current claim, we determine only whether Campos's conviction constitutes fundamental error. In conducting such a review, we first determine if error occurred; if so, we next determine whether that error was fundamental. See State v. Barber, 2004-NMSC-019, ¶ 13, 135 N.M. 621, 92 P.3d 633.