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A defendant in a criminal case has a right to a public trial under the 6th Amendment. The question arises whether there are exceptions to this right. In the recent New Mexico Supreme case of State v. Turrietta, the Court had to determine that issue in light of the trial court‘s decision to partially close…
Albuquerque Criminal Lawyer Blog
No Confrontation Rights at Probably Cause Hearing in New Mexico
There is firmly established 6th Amendment allows for confrontation of witnesses in criminal trial under both New Mexico and Federal Law. New Mexico Supreme Court case of State v. Lopez deals with the right to confrontation at a pretrial probable cause determination. Specifically, this case arose in the context of a Magistrate Court preliminary hearing…
Search and Seizure Rights – Who Can Assert Them?
The New Mexico Court of Appeals addressed an interesting search and seizure issue in the case of State v. Silvas. The case dealt with a couple of other issues but the threshold issue was the 4th Amendment argument made by the defendant for pretextual car stop. Interestingly, the pretextual stop did not involve the defendant…
New Lower DWI Standards Proposed Better Than No Standards at All
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has recently recommended, among their additional recommendations to curb impaired driving, that the legal limits for DWI be lowered from .08 to .05. There is very good recent article on the pros and cons of such a move in the Chicago Tribune. The article cites a number of studies…
Evidence of Past Criminal History – Probably Not Admissable But Is It Harmless?
It is a well-settled rule that evidence of past criminal acts cannot be used to show propensity or bad character. The reason for this is that such evidence has the potential to unduly bias the jury in a criminal trial. After all, the jury may find that the defendant behaved poorly in the past so…
Criminal Statutes to be Read With Common Sense – Ice and Water Insufficient for Criminal Charges in New Mexico
Law enforcement and prosecutors often try to stretch the definitional boundaries of criminal law statutes. On occasion, these attempts defy reason and logic. That was the case addressed recently by the New Mexico Court of Appeals case of State v. Alverson. In that case, the issue was whether dry ice and water with the potential…
Expert Testimony on Drug Quantities: Possesion v. Trafficking
The New Mexico Court of Appeals case of State v. Rael-Gallegos deals with an important criminal law issue concerning trafficking by possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute. The Court had to determine when there‘s sufficient evidence to support this charge. More specifically, the court addressed two issues: 1) whether there was sufficient evidence…
Possible Criminal Liability for Medical Negligence in New Mexico
In New Mexico, there are some acts of medical negligence that are so egregious they give rise to criminal charges. The New Mexico Court of Appeals recently took up such a case in State v. Muraida. The case is interesting on a number of levels. However, the Court‘s opinion was grounded in evidentiary and procedural…
Revoked License Provides Reasonable Suspicion for Traffic Stop in New Mexico
The New Mexico Court of Appeals case of State v. Hicks deals with a significant criminal law issue of when a police officer has reasonable suspicion to stop a vehicle. Reasonable suspicion in a traffic stop protects against illegal search and seizure most often associated with profiling. Likewise, it is important in the defense of…
Defense Expert Testimony on Reliability of Intoxilyzer Allowed in New Mexico
The New Mexico Court of Appeals case of State v. King concerns the use of expert testimony in New Mexico DWI cases. The Court had to determine whether a defendant should be permitted to present expert scientific testimony related to the general reliability and accuracy of the Intoxilyzer 8000 machine which is used to determine…