New Mexico v. Swick
Annotate this CaseOn the morning of January 21, 2006, Defendant-Petitioner Michael Swick, along with his cousin, Benito Lopez, and the victim, Alex Ogle, began a day of cruising and drinking alcohol in a borrowed Jeep. Late in the afternoon, Defendant and his cousin also consumed cocaine. After getting a jacket from the Jeep, Lopez walked back toward the place where he had left Defendant and Ogle. When he arrived, he found Defendant standing, holding a large 15-pound rock, with Ogle lying on the ground beneath him. Defendant had stabbed Ogle and bludgeoned him on the head with the rock. Defendant and his cousin walked from the crime scene and had agreed to steal a car as they approached the home of Carlos and Rita Atencio. Mrs. Atencio answered the door, and they told her that their Jeep was stuck. She let them in so that they could use the telephone. When they entered the house, Defendant stabbed Mrs. Atencio, and both men continued to beat, stab, and slash her and her husband. Defendant and his cousin left with $14.00 and a van owned by the Atencios. Defendant was indicted with first-degree murder for Ogle’s killing. The indictment also charged him with 25 additional counts for the offenses at the Atencio home. The jury found Defendant guilty of second-degree murder of Ogle and guilty of all of the remaining charges against him related to the Atencios. Defendant appealed to the New Mexico Court of Appeals, raising issues regarding double jeopardy, jury instructions, and challenging the trial court’s denial of his motion for a mistrial. The Court of Appeals upheld all of his convictions. Upon its review of the case, the Supreme Court :(1) vacated both of Defendant's convictions for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and his two convictions for aggravated burglary based on battery because these convictions violate the constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy; (2) remanded the case to the trial court for a new trial on the second-degree murder conviction because the instruction regarding second-degree murder was erroneous; (3) affirmed the trial court’s rejection of the self-defense jury instruction; and (4) affirmed the trial court’s denial of the motion for a mistrial.
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