New Mexico Supreme Court Decisions 2018
Date: December 27, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-36229
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Andrew Romero appealed his convictions arising from the shooting death of Rio Rancho Police Officer Gregg Nigel Benner during a traffic stop. Defendant was convicted of first-degree murder; two counts of…
Date: December 20, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-35427
Justia Opinion Summary: While the parties in this case litigated contempt proceedings over the course of seven years, the children at the center of the case aged out of the system and became peripheral to a nearly $4,000,000 judgment in favor…
Date: December 13, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-34974
Justia Opinion Summary: In Moses v. Skanders (Moses II), the New Mexico Supreme Court considered whether using public funds to lend textbooks to private school students violated Article XII, Section 3. In Moses II, the Court held the plain…
Date: December 13, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-35887
Justia Opinion Summary: This case arose from the tragic death of an innocent eight-year-old child as a result of a violent confrontation between two groups of men. A jury convicted defendant David Candelaria of first-degree depraved mind…
Date: November 29, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-35491
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner David Lukens, Jr. sought habeas relief, claiming he received ineffective assistance of appellate counsel. The issues he raised before the New Mexico Supreme Court centered on: (1) whether prejudice due to…
Date: November 1, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-36428
Justia Opinion Summary: New Mexico prosecuted Defendant Kelson Lewis under a five-count indictment. The only count at issue in this appeal was Count 1, under which Defendant was charged with criminal sexual contact of a minor (CSCM). At the…
Date: September 6, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-36651
Justia Opinion Summary: Casey Baker (Worker) appealed a Workers’ Compensation Administration decision denying his request that Endeavor Services, Inc. and Great West Casualty Company (Employer) pay 100% of Worker’s attorney fees pursuant to the…
Date: August 23, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-35391
Justia Opinion Summary: On November 1, 2011, officers discovered Defendant Matias Loza smelling strongly of gasoline and cowering under a fifth-wheel trailer. One hundred yards away, a Suzuki automobile containing the human remains of Richard…
Date: June 18, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-36028
Justia Opinion Summary: The New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department (the Department) appealed a Court of Appeals decision to reverse the district court’s termination of Father’s parental rights with regard to Child. Mother and Father…
Date: April 30, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-35515
Justia Opinion Summary: In a wrongful death action, the jury returned a special verdict that awarded damages to the individual loss-of-consortium claimants but not to the decedent’s estate. The decedent’s surviving spouse and children…
Date: April 23, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-35757
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants Isaac Martinez and Carla Casias were each indicted on one count of armed robbery and one count of conspiracy to commit armed robbery. Early in the investigation of the robbery, a police detective enlisted the…
Date: April 23, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-36395
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2009, the New Mexico legislative and executive branches statutorily abolished capital punishment for first-degree murder, the only remaining New Mexico crime carrying a potential death sentence, for all offenses…
Date: April 12, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-35864
Justia Opinion Summary: Just after midnight on September 8, 2012, Defendant John Radosevich’s neighbor called 911 to report that Defendant was yelling obscenities and throwing objects into his yard. After calling the police, the neighbor walked…
Date: March 9, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-35657
Justia Opinion Summary: Three federal Supreme Court cases created a special category under the Eighth Amendment for juvenile offenders whose culpability was mitigated by adolescence and immaturity. "The cases recognize that a juvenile is more…
Date: March 9, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-36000
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Oscar Arvizo was found guilty of two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor (CSCM) by a person in a position of authority, one in the second degree and one in the third degree. The Court of Appeals…
Date: March 8, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-35279
Justia Opinion Summary: In September 2013, the New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission (Commission) adopted the Copper Mine Rule, 20.6.7 NMAC (Copper Rule). Petitioners argued the Copper Rule violates the Water Quality Act (WQA) because it…
Date: March 5, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-34929
Justia Opinion Summary: Paul Fairchild Jr. asked the district court to grant summary judgment on his cross-claims against Defendants Richard Love and R.H. Love Galleries, Inc. (collectively Love) on the ground that Love failed to timely file a…
Date: March 5, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-35382
Justia Opinion Summary: The New Mexico Supreme Court affirmed Defendant Juan Galindo’s convictions for child abuse resulting in the death of his twenty-eight-day-old daughter (Baby) and his convictions for two counts of aggravated criminal…
Date: March 5, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-35445
Justia Opinion Summary: Early in the proceedings in New Mexico ex rel. King v. Valley Meat Co., LLC, No. D-101- 3 CV-2013-3197 (Valley Meat case), A. Blair Dunn, counsel for Valley Meat Co., e-mailed an Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA)…
Date: March 5, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-35697
Justia Opinion Summary: New Energy Economy, Inc. (NEE) appealed a final order issued by the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (PRC). NEE contended the PRC violated New Mexico law by approving a contested stipulation granting the Public…
Date: March 1, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-35641
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Natalie Garcia (née Watkins), sued her former employer, Defendant Hatch Valley Public Schools (HVPS), for employment discrimination under the New Mexico Human Rights Act (NMHRA). Plaintiff alleged that HVPS…
Date: February 22, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-35121
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the New Mexico Supreme Court's review centered on: (1) whether the arresting officer denied Defendant Stefan Chakerian the right to an independent chemical test in addition to one…
Date: February 22, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-35183
Justia Opinion Summary: In an issue of first impression, the New Mexico Supreme Court addressed an issue of whether evidence of non-violent crimes committed in the presence of a police officer after an unconstitutional traffic stop had to be…
Date: February 22, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-36127
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Shanah Chadwick-McNally was charged with an open count of first-degree murder and faced a potential sentence of life without the possibility of release or parole (LWOP). She argued in this interlocutory appeal…
Date: February 15, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-35995
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Corey Franklin pled guilty to one count of first-degree, willful and deliberate murder, the only offense currently designated as a “capital felony,” in exchange for life in prison with a possibility of parole.…
Date: February 15, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-36225
Justia Opinion Summary: Enduro Operating, LLC and Echo Production, Inc. were two of several parties to a joint operating agreement (JOA). Under the JOA, Echo, as a party wishing to undertake a new drilling project, had to provide notice of the…
Date: February 12, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-35130
Justia Opinion Summary: This case arose out of a dispute between insureds, Nancy Vigil and her stepson Martin Vigil, and their insurance company, Progressive Casualty Insurance Company, as to whether the Vigils’ policy was in effect at the time…
Date: February 12, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-36009
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the New Mexico Supreme Court’s review centered on whether the New Mexico Public Education Department could take into consideration federal impact aid payments a school district receives,…
Date: February 8, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-35477
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Noe Torres appealed his convictions on multiple offenses arising from the shooting into a home that missed the intended victim but resulted in the killing of a young boy. Among other questions he raised were…
Date: January 22, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-36181
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff and the corporate Defendants freely negotiated and entered into a clear and unambiguous contract for Plaintiff to sell their insurance policies. In the contract, Plaintiff consented to a provision allowing…
Date: January 18, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-35104
Justia Opinion Summary: The State of New Mexico appealed the suppression of two statements made by sixteen-year-old Filemon V. Filemon made the first statement to his probation officers. The New Mexico Supreme Court held that, absent a valid…
Date: January 11, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-36363
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Elexus Groves was indicted on two counts of first-degree murder and other serious felony offenses. In this interlocutory appeal, she challenged a district court order of pretrial detention that was based on…
Date: January 11, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-36379
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case, the New Mexico Supreme Court was asked to address the nature of evidentiary presentation required by the new detention authority approved by the New Mexico Legislature in February 2016 and passed by New…
Date: January 8, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-34798
Justia Opinion Summary: The New Mexico Supreme Court examined whether the constitutional right to confrontation was forfeited as a result of a defendant’s own wrongdoing. Specifically, the Court questioned whether the wrongdoing required an…
Date: January 4, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-34789
Justia Opinion Summary: This case involved three people who agreed to co-parent one minor Child: Tue Thi Tran (Mother); Clinton Demmon (Demmon), Child’s biological father and Mother’s current partner; and Robert Bennett (Bennett), who was…
Date: January 4, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-35116
Justia Opinion Summary: Police Sergeant George Rascon pulled over Defendant Jennifer Martinez for failing to stop at a stop sign and, as a result, the police obtained evidence that led to Defendant’s arrest and conviction for driving while…
Date: January 4, 2018
Docket Number: S-1-SC-35245
Justia Opinion Summary: Following a jury trial, Defendant John “Jack” McDowell was convicted of first- degree murder and tampering with evidence. During trial, the prosecutor elicited testimony from the arresting detective, without objection,…
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
