Court Opinion

ID: 9552502
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 19:12:06.597622+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:27:38.238701
License: Public Domain

HERNANDEZ, Judge (specially concurring). I concur in the opinion. However, I think that it is necessary to make clear my understanding of its holding. As Judge Wood points out the authorized sentence for a fourth degree felony is imprisonment for not less than one year nor more than five years, or to the payment of a fine not more than $5,000 or to both imprisonment and fine. Section 31-18-3(D), supra. Had the trial court imposed a sentence of imprisonment and a fine it could have entered “an order suspending in whole or in part the execution of the sentence.” Section 31-20-3(B), N.M.S.A.1978. The trial court, however, imposed sentence of a $2,000 fine and deferred sentence at the same time. Presumably the trial court intended to impose a sentence of both fine and imprisonment, but this is not what resulted. The holding of this case is that you cannot impose part of a sentence and defer another part.