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State v. Rios3/22/1999
{1} The metropolitan court, as a court of record, convicted Defendant for driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor (DWI) contrary to NMSA 1978, § 66-8-102 (1993). Defendant appealed to the district court, which affirmed the conviction. He raises two issues on appeal to this court: (1) he was entitled as a matter of law to assert the defense of duress to the DWI charge and (2) there was insufficient evidence to refute this defense. We hold that the common-law defense of duress is available to defendants charged with the strict liability crime of DWI. We conclude, however, that substantial evidence supported Defendant's conviction, even considering the defense, and we therefore affirm.
I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
{2} After leaving a bar at closing time, Defendant claims he and his brother were threatened with violence by an angry mob. Both of them then sought refuge in Defendant's truck. As the alleged attack continued, Defendant testified that he started the vehicle and began to drive "slowly" out of the parking lot. Almost immediately, police arrived on the scene, determined Defendant's blood-alcohol level to be .14, and arrested him for DWI.
{3} The metropolitan court, acting as fact finder in a non-jury trial, found that Defendant had not acted reasonably in the face of the alleged threat. As a result, the court found that Defendant's act of driving while under the influence was not an excusable result of duress. Defendant appealed to the district court, claiming error in the metropolitan court's review of the evidence. The district court, however, did not evaluate the evidence. Instead, it held as a matter of law that duress was unavailable to a defendant charged with DWI.
II. DISCUSSION
A. Availability of Duress Defense to a DWI Defendant
{4} The question of whether the defense of duress is available to a defendant in a DWI case is an issue this Court has not previously been called upon to address. The specific issue is whether it is of legal consequence that a defendant charged with DWI allegedly violated the law only to escape a threat of immediate death or great bodily harm. Compare Esquibel v. State, 91 N.M. 498, 501, 576 P.2d 1129, 1132 (1978) (holding "that duress is a defense available in New Mexico except when the crime charged is a homicide or a crime requiring intent to kill"), overruled on other grounds by State v. Wilson, 116 N.M. 793, 796, 867 P.2d 1175, 1178 (1994), with State v. Lucero, 98 N.M. 204, 206-07, 647 P.2d 406, 408-09 (1982) (holding that duress is unavailable to defendants charged with the strict liability offense of child abuse). This is a question of law that we review de novo. See State v. Ogden, 118 N.M. 234, 240, 880 P.2d 845, 851 (1994).
1. Strict Liability Crimes
{5} "Criminal liability is normally based upon the concurrence of two factors, an evil-meaning mind an evil-doing hand." United States v. Bailey, 444 U.S. 394, 402 (1980) (quoting Morissette v. United States, 342 U.S. 246, 251 (1952)) (internal quotation marks omitted). Nonetheless, it is well recognized that our Legislature has the constitutional authority to establish strict liability crimes. See Lucero, 98 N.M. at 206, 647 P.2d at 408 (" he Legislature may forbid the doing of an act and make its commission criminal without regard to the intent of the wrongdoer."). The principal effect of criminalizing acts without requiring criminal intent is to ease the prosecution's burden in proving its case. See id. (" he sole question for the jury in a strict liability offense is whether believes the defendant committed the act prescribed by the statute. If it finds that
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