State v. Montoya ( 2017 )

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1 IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO
2 STATE OF NEW MEXICO,
3 Plaintiff-Appellee,
4 v. No. 36,217
5 AMY MONTOYA,
6 Defendant-Appellant.
7 APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF BERNALILLO COUNTY
8 Benjamin Chavez, District Judge
9 Hector H. Balderas, Attorney General
10 Santa Fe, NM
11 for Appellee
12 Bennett Baur, Chief Public Defender
13 Santa Fe, NM
14 Steven J. Forsberg, Assistant Appellate Defender
15 Albuquerque, NM
16 for Appellant
17 MEMORANDUM OPINION
18 GARCIA, Judge.
19 {1} Defendant appeals, pursuant to a conditional guilty plea to aggravated driving
1 while intoxicated, from the district court’s affirmance of the metropolitan (metro)
2 court’s denial of her motion to suppress. This Court issued a notice of proposed
3 disposition in which we proposed to affirm. Defendant has filed a memorandum in
4 opposition, which we have duly considered. Unpersuaded, we affirm.
5 {2} In the metro court, Defendant moved to suppress the evidence against her,
6 arguing that the stop of her vehicle was unconstitutional, pursuant to City of Las
7 Cruces v. Betancourt, 1987-NMCA-039, 105 N.M. 655, 735 P.2d 1161. [CN 3] The
8 State responded, arguing that the perimeter was not subject to the Betancourt
9 requirements, and was instead justified by exigent circumstances. [CN 3] The metro
10 court agreed with the State and denied Defendant’s motion to suppress. [CN 3] On
11 remand from the district court, however, the metro court considered the stop of
12 Defendant’s vehicle in light of Betancourt, again finding no constitutional violation.
13 [CN 3] On appeal from that ruling, Defendant made the discrete argument that the
14 metro court should have evaluated the reasonableness of the crime scene perimeter as
15 a whole, and not just the specific roadblock at which she was stopped, under
16 Betancourt. [CN 4]
17 {3} In this Court’s calendar notice, we noted that Defendant had not challenged the
18 metro court’s ruling that the roadblock itself was reasonable. [CN 5] Further, we
19 declined to review Defendant’s undeveloped argument that the metro court erred in
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1 not considering the reasonableness of the entire perimeter, especially in the absence
2 of supporting authority for Defendant’s specific contention. [CN 4-5] Consequently,
3 we suggested that we were unconvinced that Defendant—through her unsupported
4 and inadequately developed discrete argument—had met her burden to demonstrate
5 error on appeal. [CN 5] See State v. Aragon, 1999-NMCA-060, ¶ 10, 127 N.M. 393,
6 981 P.2d 1211 (stating that there is a presumption of correctness in the rulings or
7 decisions of the trial court, and the party claiming error bears the burden of showing
8 such error).
9 {4} In response to this Court’s notice of proposed disposition, Defendant filed a
10 memorandum in opposition, specifically asserting that she does not argue any factual
11 error with respect to our calendar notice, and citing to one out-of-jurisdiction case that
12 she concedes is contrary to her position on appeal. [MIO 1] Consequently, we
13 conclude that Defendant has not met her burden to demonstrate error. See Hennessy
14 v. Duryea, 1998-NMCA-036, ¶ 24, 124 N.M. 754, 955 P.2d 683 (“Our courts have
15 repeatedly held that, in summary calendar cases, the burden is on the party opposing
16 the proposed disposition to clearly point out errors in fact or law.”).
17 {5} Accordingly, for the reasons stated above, as well as those provided in our
18 notice of proposed disposition, we affirm.
19 {6} IT IS SO ORDERED.
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1 ________________________________
2 TIMOTHY L. GARCIA, Judge
3 WE CONCUR:
4 _______________________________
5 JONATHAN B. SUTIN, Judge
6 _______________________________
7 STEPHEN G. FRENCH, Judge
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