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State v. Montoya4/21/2005
{1} The important issue in this case is whether this Court's holding in State v. Morales, 2002-NMCA-016, 5-11, 131 N.M. 530, 39 P.3d 747, that trial courts may designate certain offenses as serious violent ones, limiting defendants' opportunity for good time credit, without running afoul of defendants' jury trial rights, survives recent United States Supreme Court cases further refining the opinion in Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000). We hold that it does survive recent Supreme Court decisions, although for different reasons. Finding the other issues raised by Defendant to be without merit, we affirm his convictions and sentence.
BACKGROUND
{2} Defendant was convicted of vehicular homicide committed while driving while intoxicated (DWI) and child abuse. He raises five issues on appeal: (1) whether the evidence was sufficient to convict him of vehicular homicide because there was insufficient evidence that he was impaired at the time of driving; (2) whether there was sufficient evidence to allow the trial court to designate the offense as a serious violent offense pursuant to the Earned Meritorious Deduction Act, NMSA 1978, § 33-2-34 (2004) (EMDA); (3) whether the EMDA's allowing the trial court to find the facts that underlie the serious violent offense designation for offenses listed in Section 33-2-34(L)(4)(n) violates Defendant's constitutional rights under Apprendi; (4) whether the trial court abused its discretion in refusing to change the venue; and (5) whether the trial court abused its discretion in admitting evidence that a blood test showed alcohol in Defendant's blood when the trial court denied admission of the amount of alcohol because the test was taken more than four hours after Defendant was driving. We state the facts in our discussion of the particular issues.
Sufficiency of the Evidence of Impairment
{3} The standard of review for sufficiency of the evidence has been often stated. We must determine whether a rational jury could have found each essential element of the crimes charged to be established beyond a reasonable doubt, when viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the State and indulging all inferences in favor of the verdict. State v. Carrasco, 1997-NMSC-047, 10-11, 124 N.M. 64, 946 P.2d 1075. This Court does not consider the "merit of evidence that may have supported a verdict to the contrary." State v. Kersey, 120 N.M. 517, 520, 903 P.2d 828, 831 (1995) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). When a defendant argues that the evidence and inferences present two equally reasonable hypotheses, one consistent with guilt and another consistent with innocence, our answer is that by its verdict, the jury has necessarily found the hypothesis of guilt more reasonable than the hypothesis of innocence. State v. Chandler, 119 N.M. 727, 732, 895 P.2d 249, 254 (Ct. App. 1995). Our Supreme Court has recently stated that the evidence is not to be reviewed with a divide-and-conquer mentality, State v. Graham, 2005-NMSC-004, 13, ____ N.M. ____, ____ P.3d ____ [No. 28,286 (Mar. 1, 2005)], as though we were the finders of the facts. We do not reweigh the evidence or substitute our judgment for that of the jury. State v. Mora, 1997-NMSC-060, 27, 124 N.M. 346, 950 P.2d 789.
{4} The evidence presented below was that Defendant was the driver of a pick-up truck in which a woman and two children were with him in the cab, which was designed to hold three people, and that none of the children were restrained with child restraints. They were driving after dark on a mesa, where the road was relatively straight, except where it turned near the accident. There were wild animals seen and killed on the windin
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