Opinion ID: 891650
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Threshold Issues to Retroactivity Analysis

Text: {15} The question of whether a new rule applies retroactively arises only if a judicial opinion in fact announces a new rule after a defendant's criminal conviction has been finalized. See State v. Mascarenas, 2000-NMSC-017, ¶ 24, 129 N.M. 230, 4 P.3d 1221 (An appellate court's consideration of whether a rule should be retroactively or prospectively applied is invoked only when the rule at issue is in fact a `new rule.'); Santillanes, 115 N.M. at 223, 849 P.2d at 366 (The issue of retroactive effect arises only when a court's decision overturns prior case law or makes new law when law enforcement officials have relied on the prior state of the law.); State v. Rogers, 93 N.M. 519, 521, 602 P.2d 616, 618 (1979) (The question of whether or not a rule of law is to be applied retrospectively arises only for causes that have been finalized.). Accordingly, as a threshold matter, we must determine whether (1) Frazier announced a new rule and (2) our opinion in Frazier was released after Petitioner's criminal convictions became final.
{16} A case generally announces a new rule `when it breaks new ground or imposes a new obligation on the States or the Federal Government. To put it differently, a case announces a new rule if the result was not dictated by precedent existing at the time the defendant's conviction became final.' Mascarenas, 2000-NMSC-017, ¶ 24, 129 N.M. 230, 4 P.3d 1221 (quoting Teague, 489 U.S. at 301, 109 S.Ct. 1060); see also State v. Frawley, 2007-NMSC-057, ¶ 35, 143 N.M. 7, 172 P.3d 144 (same); State v. Forbes, 2005-NMSC-027, ¶ 7, 138 N.M. 264, 119 P.3d 144 (same). Thus, a court establishes a new rule when its decision is `flatly inconsistent with the prior governing precedent' and is an `explicit overruling of an earlier holding.' Frawley, 2007-NMSC-057, ¶ 35, 143 N.M. 7, 172 P.3d 144 (quoting Whorton v. Bockting, 549 U.S. 406, 416, 127 S.Ct. 1173, 167 L.Ed.2d 1 (2007)). {17} We conclude that Frazier announced a new rule because it was flatly inconsistent with our precedent governing multiple convictions for felony murder and the predicate felony. In Frazier, this Court held for the first time that felony murder and the predicate felony are actually greater and lesser included offenses in every case, one subsumed within the other, thereby precluding multiple separate convictions for both offenses under the double jeopardy clause. Frazier, 2007-NMSC-032, ¶ 1, 142 N.M. 120, 164 P.3d 1. Frazier represents a significant departure from our prior jurisprudence, which upheld multiple separate convictions for felony murder and the predicate felony, so long as the defendant's conduct underlying each conviction was separate and distinct. See, e.g., Foster, 1999-NMSC-007, ¶ 35, 126 N.M. 646, 974 P.2d 140 (upholding multiple convictions for felony murder and the predicate felony, aggravated kidnapping, because the defendant's conduct was non-unitary); State v. Mora, 1997-NMSC-060, ¶ 69, 124 N.M. 346, 950 P.2d 789 (upholding multiple convictions for felony murder and the predicate felony, criminal sexual contact, because the defendant's conduct was non-unitary); Kersey, 120 N.M. at 523, 903 P.2d at 834 (upholding multiple convictions for felony murder and the predicate felony, kidnapping, because the defendant's conduct was non-unitary); State v. Ortega, 112 N.M. 554, 571, 817 P.2d 1196, 1213 (1991) (same). Because Frazier replaced our fact-based unitary conduct inquiry with a bright-line rule of law precluding multiple convictions for felony murder and the predicate felony, we have little trouble concluding that Frazier announced a new rule. {18} Petitioner claims, however, that Frazier did not announce a new rule because it simply distinguished, rather than overruled, our prior felony murder jurisprudence. We disagree. [A] decision need not overrule a prior decision in order to qualify as `new.' 7 Criminal Procedure, supra, § 28.6(d), at 247. Rather, an opinion announces a new rule if it breaks new ground, imposes new obligations on the government, or was not dictated by precedent. Mascarenas, 2000-NMSC-017, ¶ 24, 129 N.M. 230, 4 P.3d 1221. Our opinion in Frazier broke new ground and was not dictated by precedent and, therefore, announced a new rule.
{19} Except in limited circumstances, a change in the law does not apply to cases that have been finalized before a court's opinion is filed. State v. Nunez, 2000-NMSC-013, ¶ 114, 129 N.M. 63, 2 P.3d 264. However, a change in the law generally applies to cases pending on direct appeal, as long as the issue was raised and preserved below or the failure to apply the new rule constitutes fundamental error. Id. Petitioner argues that the new rule announced in Frazier applies to his case because his direct appeal was pending at the time that this Court issued its opinion in State v. Contreras, 120 N.M. 486, 903 P.2d 228 (1995), which prefigured our holding in Frazier, but for its cursory analysis of unitary conduct, Frazier, 2007-NMSC-032, ¶ 25, 142 N.M. 120, 164 P.3d 1. Petitioner raised this argument for the first time in his reply brief and, therefore, we decline to address it. See State v. Fairweather, 116 N.M. 456, 463, 863 P.2d 1077, 1084 (1993) (refusing to address a claim raised for the first time in a reply brief). {20} As we previously have observed, [a] case is finalized when `a judgment of conviction has been rendered, the availability of appeal exhausted, and the time for filing a petition for certiorari elapsed or a petition for certiorari finally denied.' Nunez, 2000-NMSC-013, ¶ 114, 129 N.M. 63, 2 P.3d 264 (quoting Griffith v. Kentucky, 479 U.S. 314, 321 n. 6, 107 S.Ct. 708, 93 L.Ed.2d 649 (1987)). Petitioner's judgment of conviction had been rendered, his direct appeal had been exhausted, and the time for filing a petition for certiorari had expired more than ten years before our opinion in Frazier was filed. Compare Kersey, 120 N.M. at 523, 903 P.2d at 834 (affirming Petitioner's convictions on direct appeal in 1995), with Frazier, 2007-NMSC-032, ¶ 31, 142 N.M. 120, 164 P.3d 1 (adopting a new rule in felony murder and predicate felony cases in 2007). Accordingly, the new rule announced in Frazier does not apply to Petitioner's finalized case, unless it meets the stringent standard for retroactivity. See infra Part B.