Court Opinion

ID: 9791361
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 02:09:41.429918+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:35.770689
License: Public Domain

SUTIN, Judge (specially concurring). Defendant contends that when § 40A-16-2 in the Criminal Code (armed robbery) is read, as in the indictment by which he was charged, along with § 40A-29-3.1 (increased sentences for use of a firearm), a new offense is created, viz., “armed robbery with a firearm”. He contends that creation of a new offense in such fashion is in violation of the New Mexico Constitution, Art. IV, § 18. The record shows that, although the jury found that defendant had used a firearm in commission of the armed robbery, defendant was convicted only of “robbery while armed with a deadly weapon”, and he was sentenced only in accordance with § 40A-16-2. The mention of § 40A-29-3.1 in the indictment was “surplusage”. Rule 7(b) of the Rules of Criminal Procedure [§ 41-23-7, N.M.S.A.1953 (2d Repl.Vol. 6, 1973 Supp.) ] Since defendant was convicted and sentenced only pursuant to § 40A-16-2, the indictment is not void; the constitutional question does not arise; and this Court’s opinion in State v. Blea, 84 N.M. 595, 506 P.2d 339 (1973), is not material to the instant case. I feel constrained to discuss, briefly, the constitutional question even though it does not properly arise in this case, because the majority opinion did deal with this question. In doing so, the majority wrongly analyzed the constitutional question, and distorted the clear meaning of the opinion in State v. Blea. There is a constitutional question regarding § 40A-29-3.1(A), which would properly be at issue in a case in which a defendant was charged with one of the crimes named in subdivision (A) of § 40A-29-3.1. These crimes are: murder other than murder in the first degree, rape, statutory rape, rape of a child, sexual assault, escape from jail, escape from penitentiary, escape from custody of a peace officer or assault by prisoner . Blea holds that § 40A-29-3.1(A) creates a “new class of crimes”, by adding a new element to each of the named crimes, viz., use of a firearm in commission of the crime, and a new penalty, viz., the penalty provided in the statute defining each of the named crimes, plus five years. 84 N.M. at 598, 506 P.2d 339. If the holding in Blea is correct, the consequence may be that § 40A-29-3.1(A) is unconstitutional, in violation of Art. IV, § 18 of the New Mexico Constitution. The reason is that § 40A-29-3.1(A), by creating this “new class of crimes”, revises, amends, or extends the statutes which define the named crimes, without setting out these statutes in full, “as revised, amended or extended”. Art. IV, § 18. I dissented in Blea, because I do not believe § 40A-29-3.1(A) does create a new class of crimes, for the reasons set out in that dissent. However, I also do not believe the way to resolve this question is to say that the Court’s opinion in Blea does not say what it clearly does say. That is what the majority in the case at hand seems to do. The Court in Blea explicitly held that § 40A-29-3.1(A) “defines a new class of crimes”. 84 N.M. at 598, 506 P.2d at 342. This was not “dictum”, as the majority today asserts. Whatever the views of appellate judges, a court’s written opinions must always reflect reality, not the world of fantasy, where the following is permissible: “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean— neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.” “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master — that’s all.” —Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass, c. 6. A defendant in a proper case can question the Blea holding by asking the New Mexico Supreme Court to decide whether § 40A-29-3.1(A) does create a new class of crimes, and, if so, whether the section is unconstitutional.