OPINION MAES , Senior Justice . {1} In this case we are once again called upon to interpret the 1988 amendments to the New Mexico Constitution governing judicial selection. The question before the Court is whether Article VI, Section 33 of the New Mexico Constitution prohibits a district judge who loses a nonpartisan retention election from being appointed to fill the resulting vacancy created by that judge's nonretention. We hold that the New Mexico Constitution does not prohibit a...
OPINION CH VEZ , Justice . {1} Intervenors' motion for rehearing is denied. However, our prior opinion filed on November 12, 2015 is withdrawn and the following is substituted in its place. {2} Since the adoption of the New Mexico Constitution on January 21, 1911, New Mexico has had a constitutional responsibility to provide a free public education for all children of school age. N.M. Const. art. XII, 1. However, " no part of the proceeds arising from the sale or disposal of any...
OPINION DANIELS , Justice . {1} Following a second trial, Defendant Danny Surratt was convicted of criminal sexual penetration of a minor. Defendant appealed his conviction, claiming the district attorney serving as special prosecutor at the second trial lacked the authority to prosecute the case because his appointment by the first special prosecutor, also a district attorney, was invalid. Defendant maintained that the Lea County District Court was thereby divested of jurisdiction over...
OPINION VIGIL , Chief Justice . {1} Mary Ann Madrid (Plaintiff) appeals the grant of summary judgment in favor of Brinker Restaurant Corporation and its employee Randi Russell (Defendants) on the issue of causation. The district court granted summary judgment on the basis that Plaintiff failed to raise an issue of material fact to rebut Defendants' assertion that the sole cause of the underlying accident was the negligence of a third party, rather than Defendants. The Court of Appeals...
OPINION BOSSON , Justice . {1} A jury convicted Jeremy Nichols of child abuse resulting in death or great bodily harm, finding him guilty on a theory of negligently permitting medical neglect of his six-month-old son Kaden Nichols that allegedly resulted in the child's death. Finding the conviction unsupported by substantial evidence in the record, we reverse the conviction and dismiss the charge. BACKGROUND {2} Alycia Nichols, 1 Jeremy Nichols' wife, gave birth to Kaden and his twin...
OPINION MAES , Justice . {1} Following a determination that Respondent Nancy Gardu o (Gardu o) was ineligible for unemployment benefits because her employer terminated her for misconduct connected with her employment, the Cabinet Secretary of the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions (the Department) ordered Gardu o to repay $11,256 in overpaid unemployment benefits. The Court of Appeals majority held that due process precluded the Department from collecting the overpaid...
OPINION CH VEZ , Justice . {1} Since the adoption of the New Mexico Constitution on January 21, 1911, New Mexico has had a constitutional responsibility to provide a free public education for all children of school age. N.M. Const. art. XII, 1. However, " no part of the proceeds arising from the sale or disposal of any lands granted to the state by congress, or any other funds appropriated, levied or collected for educational purposes, shall be used for the support of any sectarian,...
OPINION BOSSON , Justice . {1} Four years and three months after Defendant Mark Serros was arrested and charged with sexually abusing his nephew, the district court dismissed his case, concluding that his right to a speedy trial under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution had been violated. Among other things, the district court found that Defendant had suffered extreme prejudice as a result of the length and circumstances of his detention. From the time of his arrest over...
This decision was not selected for publication in the New Mexico Appellate Reports. Please see Rule 12-405 NMRA for restrictions on the citation of non-precedential dispositions. Please also note that this electronic decision may contain computer-generated errors or other deviations from the official paper version filed by the Supreme Court. DECISION DANIELS , Justice . {1} A grand jury indicted Defendant Danny Stanfield on charges of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder....
OPINION BOSSON , Justice . {1} Defendant Norman Davis was convicted of possession of marijuana after New Mexico State Police officers consensually searched his greenhouse and seized 14 marijuana plants. That search was the result of "Operation Yerba Buena 2006," a comprehensive aerial surveillance of Davis' property and the surrounding area conducted by a coordinated law enforcement effort that allegedly discovered marijuana plants growing on Davis' property. We decide whether that aerial...
OPINION CH VEZ , Justice . {1} DeAngelo M. (Child) was thirteen years and eight days old when during a custodial interrogation by three law enforcement officers, he made inculpatory statements regarding a burglary, which connected Child to a murder. Had Child made his statements nine days earlier, his statements would not have been admissible against him in any delinquency proceedings. NMSA 1978, 32A-2-14(F) (2009). Had Child been fifteen years old at the time of his statement, his...
OPINION CH VEZ , Justice . {1} The Public Regulation Commission (PRC) granted Southwestern Public Service Company's (SPS) application to (1) include a prepaid pension asset in its rate base in order for SPS to earn a return on this asset, and (2) obtain a renewable energy cost rider to recover approximately $22 million of renewable energy procurement costs from those customers who do not have a legislatively imposed limit on their renewable energy costs (non-capped customers). The...
This decision was not selected for publication in the New Mexico Appellate Reports. Please see Rule 12-405 NMRA for restrictions on the citation of non-precedential dispositions. Please also note that this electronic decision may contain computer-generated errors or other deviations from the official paper version filed by the Supreme Court. CHARLES W. DANIELS , Justice . DECISION {1} Following a jury trial, the district court entered judgment against Defendant William Pagan-Rivera and...
OPINION BOSSON , Justice . {1} Over two decades ago, in Campos v. State, 1994-NMSC-012, 1, 117 N.M. 155 , 870 P.2d 117 , this Court held that under our New Mexico Constitution a felony arrest must be preceded by an arrest warrant, even when supported by probable cause, unless exigent circumstances made securing a warrant impractical. Our opinion in Campos addressed a situation in which the authorities had ample time to obtain an arrest warrant and provided no good reason for...
OPINION BOSSON , Justice . {1} Relying on Santobello v. New York, 404 U.S. 257 , 92 S.Ct. 495, 30 L.Ed.2d 427 (1971), this Court has previously held that a plea-bargained sentence must be fulfilled by the prosecution, and if not, will be enforced by the courts. See State v. Miller, 2013-NMSC-048, 29, 31, 314 P.3d 655 . In this first-degree murder appeal, we apply that principle of law to a prosecutorial promise to dismiss a tampering-with-evidence charge if the accused would...
OPINION VIGIL , Chief Justice . {1} We are called upon to decide whether a complaint for breach of warranty seeking damages for personal injury under the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) is governed by the four-year statute of limitations for suits based on the sale of goods, or whether the three-year statute of limitations for tort applies. {2} Kenneth Badilla (Plaintiff) bought a pair of work boots at Wal-Mart. He claims the soles of the boots came unglued, causing him to trip and...
OPINION BOSSON , Justice . {1} Under Article VI, Section 33 of the New Mexico Constitution, a district judge elected to that position in a partisan election is thereafter "subject to retention or rejection in like manner at the general election every sixth year." Section 33 does not specify when this six-year term begins, particularly when the elected judge succeeds a predecessor who has not completed his or her full term in office. In that case, does the successor judge's election mark...
OPINION CH VEZ , Justice . {1} Since 1975, we have held that provisions precluding government employees from seeking elective office are constitutionally permissible personnel rules regulating conflicts of interest. See State ex rel. Gonzales v. Manzagol, 1975-NMSC-002, 18-19, 87 N.M. 230 , 531 P.2d 1203 . These personnel rules act as conditions of employment, and therefore do not constitute added qualifications for elective public office. See id. 13. Appellee Emily Kane (Kane)...
OPINION BOSSON , Justice . {1} This matter presents an unusual issue dealing with the procedure for seeking leave to amend a complaint to add parties as additional defendants. When the motion for leave is filed before the statute of limitations has run, but the order granting leave is filed after the statute has run, is the amended complaint time barred Adopting a new rule for this situation, we hold that the subsequently filed amended complaint, post-statute of limitations, is deemed...
OPINION DANIELS , Justice . {1} The New Mexico Uniform Trust Code provides that when a trustee breaches its duty of care and causes a loss to the trust, that lost value must be returned to the trust as restoration damages. It also provides that when a trustee breaches its duty of loyalty by self-dealing, any profit from such self-dealing must be disgorged so that the trustee cannot profit from its wrongdoing. Restoration and disgorgement are not mutually exclusive, and recovery need not...
