City of Santa Fe v. Marquez , 2 N.M. 468 ( 2012 )


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    New Mexico Compilation
    Commission, Santa Fe, NM
    '00'04- 16:46:11 2012.09.19
    IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO
    Opinion Number: 
    2012-NMSC-031
    Filing Date: August 20, 2012
    Docket No. 32,885
    CITY OF SANTA FE,
    Plaintiff-Appellant,
    v.
    JULIO J. MARQUEZ,
    Defendant-Appellee.
    APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF SANTA FE COUNTY
    Stephen D. Pfeffer, District Judge
    Eugene I. Zamora
    R. Alfred Walker
    Marcos D. Martinez
    Santa Fe, NM
    for Appellant
    Trace L. Rabern, Attorney and Counselor at Law, L.L.C.
    Trace L. Rabern
    Santa Fe, NM
    for Appellee
    OPINION
    SERNA, Justice.
    {1}    The City of Santa Fe (City) charged Julio Marquez with two violations of the Santa
    Fe City Code (SFCC), including Operating a Motor Vehicle Under the Influence of
    Intoxicating Liquor or Drugs (DWI). After the City rested its case at trial, the district court
    sua sponte ruled that the arresting officer’s DWI investigation was unlawful and on that basis
    entered an order suppressing all evidence from the investigation and therefore dismissing the
    DWI charge against Marquez. The City now brings this direct appeal pursuant to NMSA
    1
    1978, Section 35-15-11 (1959) (providing municipalities with “the right to appeal . . . to the
    supreme court from any decision of the district court in every case brought for the violation
    of an ordinance of said municipality”), invalidated on other grounds by City of Las Cruces
    v. Sanchez, 
    2007-NMSC-042
    , ¶¶ 20-21, 
    142 N.M. 243
    , 
    164 P.3d 942
     (holding that Section
    35-15-11 confers upon municipalities the right to appeal a final judgment to the district court
    unless barred by double jeopardy protections and that the statute’s language limiting appeals
    to only two circumstances was unconstitutional).
    {2}      Under our statutes, constitutional double jeopardy principles bar the City from
    retrying Marquez and therefore this appeal must be dismissed. We nonetheless write to cast
    light on the unintended consequences that can follow (and, in this case, did follow) from
    waiting until trial to consider suppression issues; to clarify that our Rules of Criminal
    Procedure require a motion to suppress evidence to be made within twenty days of entry of
    a defendant’s plea, absent good cause shown; and to expand the applicable rule to require
    district courts to adjudicate the suppression of possibly illegally obtained evidence prior to
    trial, unless good cause exists for delaying such rulings until trial.
    I.     BACKGROUND
    {3}     Julio Marquez was arrested on October 22, 2009 shortly after he made a wide right
    turn at a street intersection in Santa Fe without slowing down or stopping at the stop sign.
    A Santa Fe Police Department officer, Michael Rute, witnessed the infraction and stopped
    Marquez to cite him. After observing indicia of intoxication, Officer Rute administered field
    sobriety tests and ultimately arrested Marquez for DWI. Marquez was later found to have
    a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.09 percent.
    {4}     The City charged Marquez with Careless Driving, a violation of SFCC Uniform
    Traffic Code 2004 Section 12-6-12.4 (2009), and with simple (non-aggravated) DWI, a
    violation of SFCC Uniform Traffic Code 2004 Section 12-6-12.1 (2009), available at
    http://www.santafenm.gov/DocumentView.aspx?DID=4191. The City’s case against
    Marquez went to trial in municipal court, and Marquez was found guilty of both offenses.
    Marquez timely appealed to the district court for a de novo trial.
    {5}      A bench trial before the district court commenced in October 2010. Officer Rute
    testified that he was driving southbound on Camino Alire just after midnight on October 22,
    2009 when he saw a Pontiac Aztek traveling westbound on Alto Street. The Pontiac,
    according to Officer Rute, failed to make a proper stop before turning right from Alto Street
    onto Camino Alire. Officer Rute testified that he had to swerve to avoid a crash with the
    Pontiac as it made a wide turn, that the Pontiac then pulled immediately in front of another
    vehicle, and that as a result he stopped the driver of the Pontiac because he “felt that the
    vehicle was driving in a careless manner.”
    {6}     Officer Rute further testified that after he made contact with the driver, soon
    identified by his driver’s license as Marquez, Marquez “started to fumble” for his
    2
    registration and insurance papers. After engaging Marquez in conversation, Officer Rute
    observed “that he had slurry speech, he had [an] odor of intoxicating liquor emanating from
    his breath when he spoke, and his eyes appeared to be red and bloodshot.” Officer Rute
    asked Marquez if he had consumed any alcohol, and after initially denying that he had done
    so Marquez responded that he had drunk one glass of wine. Next Officer Rute directed
    Marquez out of his vehicle in order to administer field sobriety tests. As Officer Rute
    testified, in conducting the tests he observed a sufficient number of the clues prescribed as
    indicators of impairment to conclude that Marquez was impaired.
    {7}     After Marquez completed the field sobriety tests and Officer Rute determined
    Marquez to be impaired, Officer Rute arrested Marquez for DWI. Because Marquez was
    unable to provide a breath sample due to asthma, a blood draw was administered. Marquez’s
    blood sample was analyzed and indicated a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.09 percent, just
    above the 0.08 percent concentration treated as per se proof of impairment. See SFCC 2004
    § 12-6-12.1(B)(1).
    {8}     The parties agreed to a two-month continuance of the trial following interruption of
    Officer Rute’s testimony to accommodate an out-of-town witness (the blood-test technician),
    after which Officer Rute became unavailable due to his treatment for a serious illness. When
    Marquez’s trial resumed in January 2011, Marquez’s attorney began a cross-examination
    of Officer Rute but stopped his questioning after Officer Rute said that he was not feeling
    well and could not remember his prior direct testimony. The City did not redirect or call any
    other witnesses and rested its case.
    {9}     Officer Rute’s patrol car was equipped with a video camera which had recorded the
    entire stop and arrest, and this video recording was previously admitted into evidence, with
    no objection from Marquez. The district court also admitted the results of Marquez’s blood-
    alcohol test. Although Marquez objected to admission of the test results, he did so only on
    the grounds that the test kit might have expired and that the toxicologist who had testified
    about the test process and interpreted its results had not performed the test and was not
    properly qualified. Marquez did not assert at any point prior to the close of the City’s case
    that Officer Rute lacked reasonable suspicion to initiate the DWI investigation, nor did
    Marquez move to suppress evidence flowing from that investigation. At the close of the
    City’s case, Marquez asked the district court to review the video recording of the traffic stop.
    After the court did so, Marquez moved for a directed verdict on the DWI charge, on the
    grounds that he was unable to cross-examine Officer Rute and that the video contradicted
    Officer Rute’s portrayal of Marquez’s driving, speech, and behavior.
    {10} The district court concluded that the video did not show Marquez’s car almost hitting
    Officer Rute’s patrol car or any other vehicle, contrary to the officer’s testimony; that far
    from slurring his words, Marquez spoke with “perfect enunciation,” again contradicting the
    officer’s testimony; that Officer Rute was belligerent while Marquez was cooperative; that
    in the court’s assessment Officer Rute simply took offense to Marquez having rolled through
    the intersection without stopping and had a “preconceived notion” about Marquez thereafter;
    3
    that Marquez did not fumble for his papers; that when Marquez exited his car, he was not
    swaying; and that Marquez’s admission to consuming a single glass of wine did not provide
    Officer Rute with reasonable suspicion necessary to expand the traffic stop into a DWI
    investigation. Accordingly, the court determined it would suppress all evidence from the
    DWI investigation and would enter an order dismissing the DWI charge, as well as
    upholding Marquez’s conviction on the Careless Driving charge.
    {11} The district court thereafter entered a written order, styled as a “Judgment, Sentence
    and Order of Remand,” which adjudged Marquez guilty of Careless Driving and imposed
    a suspended jail sentence and court costs. The order also provided that after “having heard
    testimony, taken evidence, [and] considered the arguments of counsel,” the court determined
    that Officer Rute “did not have reasonable suspicion, based on the odor of alcohol and
    admission to drinking, to expand the scope of the traffic stop to an investigation of [DWI].”
    On that basis, the court ordered that “all evidence of [DWI] developed as a result of the
    investigation following the traffic stop for Careless Driving is hereby suppressed, and the
    charge of [DWI] is hereby dismissed with prejudice.” The district court’s order did not
    explicitly rule on, or otherwise make any reference to, Marquez’s motion for a directed
    verdict. The City timely filed this direct appeal of the district court’s order.
    II.     DISCUSSION
    {12} Double jeopardy bars the City from retrying Marquez on the DWI charge, and
    therefore we must dismiss the City’s appeal. Here, jeopardy had attached because the City
    presented evidence against Marquez to the district court. See State v. Nunez, 2000-NMSC-
    013, ¶ 28, 
    129 N.M. 63
    , 
    2 P.3d 264
     (“in a nonjury trial, . . . jeopardy attaches when the court
    begins to hear at least some evidence on behalf of the state.”).
    {13} This result follows directly from our holding in State v. Lizzol, 
    2007-NMSC-024
    , 
    141 N.M. 705
    , 
    160 P.3d 886
    . In Lizzol, a police officer pulled over the defendant motorist for
    driving without taillights in the early morning hours. Id. ¶ 2. The officer “[o]bserv[ed] signs
    of intoxication, ” administered field sobriety tests, and arrested the defendant for driving
    under the influence of intoxicating liquor. Id. At trial in metropolitan court, the state
    attempted to lay the foundation for admission of the card containing the breath alcohol test
    (BAT) results through the testimony of the arresting officer. Id. ¶¶ 3-4. The metropolitan
    court found that the officer lacked sufficient knowledge about the test machine’s certification
    to provide the proper foundation for admitting the BAT card. After the state rested its case,
    the court entered a written order suppressing the BAT card “‘because the officer is found not
    to be [a] qualified individual to testify to the certification of the breath machine . . . [and] the
    case is therefore dismissed.’” Id. ¶ 4 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted).
    {14} The state appealed to the district court, which determined that the metropolitan court
    erred in excluding the BAT card and remanded the case for a new trial. Id. ¶ 5. The
    defendant then appealed to the Court of Appeals, which rejected his argument that double
    jeopardy barred the state from challenging the metropolitan court’s evidentiary ruling but
    4
    went on to determine that the metropolitan court had correctly excluded the BAT card. Id.
    ¶ 5 and n.1.
    {15} This Court “d[id] not reach the issue of whether the judge’s evidentiary ruling . . .
    was in error.” Id. ¶¶ 1, 29. Rather, we held that because the metropolitan court’s order
    excluding the BAT card led to the defendant’s acquittal based on that court’s determination
    of “insufficient evidence to proceed” with trial, “the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth
    Amendment to the United States Constitution bar[red] the state’s appeal of the evidentiary
    ruling.” Id. ¶ 29. As we explained:
    (1) the State is barred from appealing when a defendant is acquitted by the
    trial court no matter how egregiously erroneous the trial court’s ruling; (2)
    whether a defendant was acquitted does not depend on the trial court’s
    characterization of its ruling; (3) an acquittal results when, after making an
    erroneous evidentiary ruling, the trial court concludes that the evidence is
    insufficient to proceed; (4) an acquittal does not result when, notwithstanding
    the defendant’s possible culpability, the trial court determines the defendant’s
    prosecution is constitutionally or statutorily prohibited; (5) a defendant may
    not be retried after the conviction is set aside because of insufficient
    evidence; (6) a defendant may be retried if the conviction was set aside
    because of trial error, including the situation when the trial court wrongly
    admitted incriminating evidence or wrongly excluded exculpatory evidence.
    Id. ¶ 15.
    {16} As in Lizzol, the district court’s evidentiary ruling here, although not styled as an
    order of acquittal, nonetheless functioned as an acquittal. “[W]hether a defendant was
    acquitted depends on whether the trial court’s ruling, however labeled, correctly or
    incorrectly resolved some or all of the factual elements of the crime.” Id. ¶ 7. Here, by
    making the suppression ruling after the City rested its case and simultaneously dismissing
    the DWI charge, the district court effectively determined that the City lacked sufficient
    evidence to meet its burden of proof. See id. ¶ 24.
    {17} In Lizzol, this Court distinguished and modified a prior decision, County of Los
    Alamos v. Tapia, 
    109 N.M. 736
    , 
    790 P.2d 1017
     (1990). In Tapia, a police officer observed
    the defendant motorist running through a stop sign and driving with a broken tail light near
    the boundary line between Los Alamos County and Santa Fe County. Id. at 737-38, 
    790 P.2d at 1018-19
    . The officer pursued the defendant and stopped him in Santa Fe County,
    and after administering field sobriety tests arrested him for driving while intoxicated. Id. at
    738, 
    790 P.2d at 1019
    . The defendant was convicted on that charge in a trial held in Los
    Alamos Municipal Court, and thereafter appealed to the district court for a trial de novo. At
    the district court trial, during the arresting officer’s testimony the defendant moved to
    suppress all evidence resulting from the arrest on the ground that the arrest was unlawful
    under the Fresh Pursuit Act. 
    Id.
     After hearing argument from the parties, the district court
    5
    entered an order finding the arrest to be illegal and on that basis suppressing all resulting
    evidence and dismissing the charges against the defendant. 
    Id.
     The county appealed, and
    the defendant moved to dismiss the appeal on double jeopardy grounds, a motion that the
    Court of Appeals granted. 
    Id.
     This Court reversed, determining that the district court’s
    order of dismissal
    was in no sense a decision on the quantum of proof offered by the county, on
    its probative value, on the credibility of the evidence, or on any other
    question relating to the sufficiency of the county’s case; it was purely and
    simply a ruling on the legality of defendant’s arrest and the consequent
    admissibility vel non of the prosecution’s evidence.
    Id. at 739, 
    790 P.2d at 1020
    .
    {18} In Lizzol we explained that the “real issue in Tapia was whether there was
    jurisdiction under the Fresh Pursuit Act to bring the defendant to trial in the first place.”
    
    2007-NMSC-024
    , ¶ 21. Therefore, “[t]he trial court in Tapia did not make an erroneous
    evidentiary ruling,” but rather dismissed the charges against the defendant “based on an
    interpretation of a statute and [its ruling] was unrelated to a factual finding of guilt or
    innocence.” 
    Id.
     Although the district court in Tapia couched its ruling in terms of
    suppression, see 109 N.M. at 738, 
    790 P.2d at 1019
    , we noted in Lizzol that “[i]n Tapia, the
    evidence was not ‘suppressed’; instead, the trial court simply ruled that the officer lacked
    jurisdiction under the Fresh Pursuit Act to make an arrest.” 
    2007-NMSC-024
    , ¶ 28. Like
    the factual finding in Lizzol and unlike the jurisdictional determination in Tapia, the district
    court in the present appeal based its order of dismissal on an evidentiary ruling that directly
    related to Marquez’s guilt or innocence. That is because in suppressing the evidence
    resulting from the DWI investigation after the City had rested its case and dismissing the
    DWI charge, the district court here implicitly held the evidence to be insufficient to support
    Marquez’s conviction on the DWI charge.
    {19} Although double jeopardy protections preclude our review of the merits of the district
    court’s suppression order, we take the opportunity to discuss how the timing and scope of
    the order foreclosed any appeal by the City, and to both clarify and expand our procedural
    rules so that district courts going forward may avoid the apparently unintended results of this
    case.
    {20} The district court premised its suppression ruling on disparities between Officer
    Rute’s testimony about Marquez’s appearance and behavior and the court’s own assessment
    of the same based on the video recording of the traffic stop. Specifically, in the district
    court’s view the video recording contradicted Officer Rute’s testimony about Marquez’s
    slurred speech, problems with motor control, and near-collision with Officer Rute’s car or
    another vehicle prior to the traffic stop. Officer Rute had also testified that Marquez had the
    odor of alcohol on his breath and bloodshot eyes and that he admitted to having drunk
    alcohol earlier that evening. Given that these other indicia of intoxication could not be
    6
    confirmed by the video recording and relied solely on Officer Rute’s testimony, which the
    court treated skeptically in light of the video recording, the court did not find reasonable
    suspicion for expanding the stop for careless driving into an investigation of DWI.
    {21} The district court had initially permitted the City to introduce evidence from the DWI
    investigation, including testimony from Officer Rute, the video recording, and the results of
    Marquez’s blood-alcohol test, all of which had been admitted either without any objection
    from Marquez or over objections unrelated to the legality of the officer’s investigation. In
    fact, the district court had viewed the video recording and heard Officer Rute’s direct
    testimony on the first day of Marquez’s trial, months earlier. There is no indication in the
    record that any information came to light in January 2011 (when trial concluded and the
    district court made its suppression ruling) that was unavailable at the beginning of trial. Any
    concerns about the constitutionality of the DWI investigation, whether prompted by counsel
    or the court’s independent review, thus should have been addressed before the City rested
    its case. In addition, while the district court may have treated Marquez’s motion for a
    directed verdict as a mid-trial motion to suppress, Marquez did not explicitly request that
    relief and there is nothing in the court’s order to indicate that it was issued in response to
    Marquez’s directed verdict motion. When the district court ultimately suppressed evidence
    from the DWI investigation, it did not acknowledge that it was effectively reversing its prior
    rulings.
    {22} By ruling on the suppression of evidence during trial and then immediately
    dismissing the DWI charge, the district court deprived the City of all rights it may have had
    to seek review of the suppression ruling because any appeal is now barred by double
    jeopardy protections. See Lizzol, 
    2007-NMSC-024
    , ¶ 24 (holding that even if the judge’s
    evidentiary ruling was “egregiously erroneous,” as long as it related to a factual finding
    preventing the state from proving its case, the resulting acquittal bars the state from
    appealing the ruling on double jeopardy grounds); see also State v. Fraternal Order of
    Eagles Aerie 0337 Buckeye, 
    569 N.E.2d 478
    , 481 (Ohio 1991) (The state’s “absolute right
    to appeal the grant of a motion to suppress . . . should not be abolished by the entry of a
    judgment of acquittal” resulting from the court’s suppression of evidence during trial.).
    {23} Barring resolution of the suppression issue before trial, the district court should have
    continued Marquez’s trial, and the City should have sought such a continuance, to allow the
    City to seek an interlocutory appeal. See NMSA 1978, § 39-3-3(B)(2) (1972) (providing that
    an interlocutory appeal may be taken by the state within ten days from a decision or order
    by the district court suppressing or excluding evidence); § 39-3-3-(C) (foreclosing appeals
    “when the double jeopardy clause of the United States constitution or the constitution of the
    state of New Mexico prohibits further prosecution.”). This Court has outlined the specific
    procedure by which the state can appeal a suppression ruling in magistrate court in order to
    avoid a situation similar to this one in which the defendant would be acquitted as the result
    of the suppression of evidence, thus barring the ability of the state to appeal. See State v.
    Heinsen, 
    2005-NMSC-035
    , ¶¶ 1, 23, 28, 
    138 N.M. 441
    , 
    121 P.3d 1040
     (holding that, even
    though no statute or constitutional provision recognizes the ability of the state to appeal non-
    7
    final orders in magistrate court, the state may dismiss a case in magistrate court by filing a
    nolle prosequi and reinstate the charges in district court in order to appeal a suppression
    order before a final judgment so that the state is not barred by double jeopardy). To further
    protect the state’s ability to appeal a suppression ruling in magistrate court, Heinsen
    interpreted the time limitation in Rule 5-604(B)(1) NMRA (2000) as not commencing until
    the filing of a new indictment in district court. Heinsen, 2005 NMSC-035 at ¶¶ 1, 27, 28.
    Although not specifically addressing a municipality’s appeal rights, Heinsen does reflect the
    Court’s evident concern that suppression orders generally should not be immune from
    appellate review.
    {24} Although the parties did not address its application, we now turn to Rule 5-212(C)
    of our Rules of Criminal Procedure, which provides that in district court proceedings “[a]
    motion to suppress shall be made within twenty (20) days after the entry of a plea, unless,
    upon good cause shown, the trial court waives the time requirement of this rule.” Rule 5-
    212(C) NMRA. The accompanying commentary, however, states to the contrary that “[the
    Rules] do not require [a] motion objecting to illegally seized evidence prior to trial.” Rule
    5-212 Comm. Commentary (emphasis added); see also State v. Katrina G., 2008-NMCA-
    069, ¶ 17, 
    144 N.M. 205
    , 
    185 P.3d 376
     (“It seems clear that, as a general rule, under . . . the
    Rules of Criminal Procedure, a motion to suppress evidence is not required to be made
    before trial and may be made at trial.”). Prior decisions of this Court and the Court of
    Appeals perhaps have added to the confusion, on the one hand enforcing Rule 5-212(C)’s
    time requirement, see, e.g., State v. East, No. 29,486, slip op. at 4 (N.M. Ct. App. Apr. 7,
    2011), and on the other hand categorically relaxing that requirement, see Tapia, 109 N.M.
    at 744 n.13, 
    790 P.2d at
    1025 n.13; State v. Gutierrez, 
    2005-NMCA-015
    , ¶ 21, 
    136 N.M. 779
    , 
    105 P.3d 332
    .
    {25} This case illustrates the need to clarify that our rules require suppression motions to
    be filed prior to trial, absent good cause, as similarly required by the Federal Rules of
    Criminal Procedure and the rules of some other states. See Fed. R. Crim. P. 12(b)(3)(C) (A
    motion to suppress evidence “must be raised before trial.”); see also United States v. Meraz-
    Peru, 
    24 F.3d 1197
    , 1198 (10th Cir. 1994) (“A motion to suppress evidence must be raised
    prior to trial; the failure to so move constitutes a waiver, unless the district court, in its
    discretion, grants relief from the waiver for cause shown.”); see, e.g., 
    Nev. Rev. Stat. § 174.125
    (1) (1981) (“All motions in a criminal prosecution to suppress evidence . . . and all
    other motions which by their nature, if granted, delay or postpone the time of trial must be
    made before trial, unless an opportunity to make such a motion before trial did not exist or
    the moving party was not aware of the grounds for the motion before trial.”). We disavow
    the committee commentary to Rule 5-212(C) to the extent it conflicts with the time limits
    imposed by the Rule, and overrule Tapia and Katrina G. to the same limited extent.
    {26} The nullification of the City’s right to appeal the district court’s ruling in this case,
    however, requires us to go further. As noted above, Marquez himself never moved to
    suppress evidence from the DWI investigation, at least not explicitly so. Indeed, he
    acquiesced to the admission of some of that evidence (the video recording from the camera
    8
    mounted on Officer Rute’s patrol car) and challenged the blood-alcohol test result only on
    evidentiary grounds unrelated to the legality of the DWI investigation. Instead, the district
    court here took up the suppression issue on its own initiative, so adherence to Rule 5-
    212(C)’s time limitation for filing motions would not have prevented the outcome in this
    case. Pursuant to “the authority granted to this Court in Article III, Section 1 and Article VI,
    Section 3 of the New Mexico Constitution” to “fashion, adopt and amend rules of
    procedure,” State v. Pieri, 
    2009-NMSC-019
    , ¶ 19, 
    146 N.M. 155
    , 
    207 P.3d 1132
    , to give full
    effect to the time limitation imposed by Rule 5-212(C), and to avoid having the
    prosecution’s appeal rights inadvertently extinguished by double jeopardy protections, we
    therefore hold that trial courts must adjudicate any suppression issues prior to trial, absent
    good cause for delaying such rulings until trial. Cf. Jones v. State, 
    909 A.2d 650
    , 659 (Md.
    2006) (noting the Maryland procedural rule providing that suppression motions “shall be
    determined before trial” (citation omitted)); People v. Tyler, 
    874 P.2d 1037
    , 1039 (Colo.
    1994) (“Motions to suppress evidence in criminal proceedings should be filed and
    determined prior to trial when the defendant is aware of the grounds for such motion”
    (emphasis added)); Bailey v. State, 
    319 So.2d 22
    , 28 (Fla. 1975) (“[T]he trial court should
    have heard and ruled upon the motion to suppress prior to the trial.”).
    {27} To be clear, this Opinion specifically addresses the suppression of evidence but does
    not encompass all trial court evidentiary rulings; “‘[s]uppression of evidence’ is limited to
    the situation where otherwise admissible evidence is inadmissible because of the violation
    of a defendant’s constitutional right.” Lizzol, 
    2007-NMSC-024
    , ¶ 28. As we previously
    have explained, “[t]he phrases ‘motion to suppress’ or ‘suppress evidence’ . . . are terms of
    art which contemplate more than the simple exclusion of evidence . . . . [A] motion to
    suppress presupposes that the evidence was illegally obtained.” 
    Id.
     (second alteration and
    second omission in original) (internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting State v. Howard,
    
    908 S.W.2d 602
    , 604 (Tex. Ct. App. 1995)). We request that the Rules of Criminal
    Procedure for the District Courts Committee consider the best means of implementing this
    directive.
    III.   CONCLUSION
    {28} Because the district court found insufficient evidence to support Marquez’s
    conviction due to its suppression ruling, its resulting order had the legal effect of an
    acquittal. Consequently, the order foreclosed the City’s right to appeal, as double jeopardy
    principles constrain us from reviewing the order on its merits. See Lizzol, 
    2007-NMSC-024
    ,
    ¶¶ 6, 29. Therefore, we reluctantly affirm the district court’s order. In doing so we hold,
    prospectively, that Rule 5-212(C) requires that motions to suppress be filed before trial and
    that the district courts must adjudicate suppression issues before trial, absent good cause.
    {29}   IT IS SO ORDERED.
    ____________________________________
    PATRICIO M. SERNA, Justice
    9
    WE CONCUR:
    ____________________________________
    PETRA JIMENEZ MAES, Chief Justice
    ____________________________________
    RICHARD C. BOSSON, Justice
    ____________________________________
    EDWARD L. CHÁVEZ, Justice
    ___________________________________
    CHARLES W. DANIELS, Justice
    Topic Index for City of Santa Fe v. Marquez, No. 32,885
    CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
    Double Jeopardy
    Suppression of Evidence
    CRIMINAL LAW
    Driving While Intoxicated
    CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
    Motion to Suppress
    Reasonable Suspicion
    GOVERNMENT
    Municipalities
    Ordinances
    10