Opinion ID: 891826
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Trial Court Reasonably Denied the Motion for a Continuance Because of the Number of Previous Continuances, the Likely Length of Delay, and the Lack of an Explanation for Defense Counsel's Failure to Timely Discover and Test the Jacket Evidence.

Text: {¶ 3} A week before trial, it came to defense counsel's attention that the State was in possession of a Nike jacket that Arrendondo had been wearing on the day of the murder. Lodged in a hole in the back shoulder of the jacket was a small unidentified lump of hard material that has been described during the trial as, among other things, a fragment, a hard lump, and a fragment of something hard, a bullet, a rock, we don't know. (For the sake of convenience, we will describe the object found in the jacket as an unidentified fragment throughout this opinion.) Defense counsel moved for a continuance of the trial setting to test the jacket and the unidentified fragment in an attempt to bolster Arrendondo's claim of self-defense. This motion was argued on the morning of trial after a jury had been seated. The trial court denied the motion, citing the numerous prior continuances granted at Arrendondo's request, and also because the trial judge was not persuaded that the unidentified fragment was relevant to the defense. {¶ 4} We review a trial court's denial of a motion for a continuance under an abuse of discretion standard. See State v. Salazar, 2007-NMSC-004, ¶ 10, 141 N.M. 148, 152 P.3d 135. An abuse of discretion is a ruling that is clearly against the logic and effect of the facts and circumstances of the case. State v. Moreland, 2008-NMSC-031, ¶ 9, 144 N.M. 192, 185 P.3d 363 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). The factors we consider when reviewing the denial of a motion for continuance include the length of the requested delay, the likelihood that a delay would accomplish the movant's objectives, the existence of previous continuances in the same matter, the degree of inconvenience to the parties and the court, the legitimacy of the motives in requesting the delay, the fault of the movant in causing a need for the delay, and the prejudice to the movant in denying the motion. State v. Torres, 1999-NMSC-010, ¶ 10, 127 N.M. 20, 976 P.2d 20. {¶ 5} Assessing the trial court's decision under the Torres factors, we conclude that the court did not abuse its discretion. The trial court had already continued four trial settings at Arrendondo's request. Each continuance resulted in several intervening months before the next trial setting. In addition, Arrendondo's counsel did not offer any explanation regarding why the jacket and the unidentified fragment had not been discovered sooner or tested before the day of trial. {¶ 6} Finally, as an alternative to the continuance, defense counsel asked that the jacket be admitted into evidence and Arrendondo be permitted to argue that the hole in the jacket corroborated his testimony that Aragon shot him in the shoulder. The trial court admitted the jacket into evidence and defense counsel argued that the hole in the jacket supported Arrendondo's claim that he shot and killed Aragon in self-defense. In light of these considerations, we affirm the trial court's denial of the motion for a continuance.