2021 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 30 - Criminal Offenses
Article 3 - Assault and Battery
Section 30-3-17 - Multiple convictions of battery or aggravated battery.
A. Whoever commits three offenses of battery against a household member as provided in Section 30-3-15 NMSA 1978 or aggravated battery against a household member as provided in Subsection B of Section 30-3-16 NMSA 1978, or any combination thereof, when the household member is a spouse, a former spouse, a co-parent of a child or a person with whom the offender has had a continuing personal relationship is guilty of a fourth degree felony.
B. Whoever commits four or more offenses of battery against a household member as provided in Section 30-3-15 NMSA 1978 or aggravated battery against a household member as provided in Subsection B of Section 30-3-16 NMSA 1978, or any combination thereof, when the household member is a spouse, a former spouse, a co-parent of a child or a person with whom the offender has had a continuing personal relationship is guilty of a third degree felony.
C. For the purpose of determining the number of offenses committed, each offense must have been committed after conviction for the preceding offense.
History: Laws 2008, ch. 16, § 4.
ANNOTATIONSEffective dates. — Laws 2008, ch. 16, § 6 made this section effective July 1, 2008.
Applicability. — Laws 2008, ch. 16, § 5 provided that the provisions of Laws 2008, ch. 16, § 4 apply to convictions obtained on or after July 1, 2008.
Habitual offender enhancement not prohibited. — Where defendant, a three-time domestic violence offender, pleaded no contest to, and was convicted of, felony battery against a household member, the district court did not err in enhancing defendant's sentence by one year, pursuant to 31-18-17(A) NMSA 1978, based on a prior conviction for false imprisonment, because contrary to defendant's argument, the felony battery against a household member statute is not self-enhancing, and based on the plain language of the statutes at issue, the one-year habitual offender enhancement of defendant's fourth degree felony battery on a household member sentence was proper as a matter of law. State v. Barela, 2019-NMCA-005, cert. granted.
The Habitual Offender Act is applicable to convictions of felony battery against a household member. — Where defendant pleaded guilty to battery against a household member after battering the mother of his child, and where this was defendant's third conviction of battery against a household member, and where the district court enhanced defendant's conviction to a fourth degree felony under § 30-3-17(A) NMSA 1978, and where defendant had previously been convicted of a separate felony, the district court enhanced defendant's sentence by one year under the Habitual Offender Act, § 31-18-17 NMSA 1978, the district court did not err in applying the Habitual Offender Act, because the plain language of § 30-3-17(A) NMSA 1978 and § 31-18-17 NMSA 1978 does not preclude their simultaneous application. State v. Barela, 2021-NMSC-001, aff'g 2019-NMCA-005, 458 P.3d 501.
