2021 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 31 - Criminal Procedure
Article 4 - Extradition
Section 31-4-14 - Arrest without a warrant.

The arrest of a person may be lawfully made also by any peace officer or a private person without a warrant upon reasonable information that the accused stands charged in the courts of a state with a crime punishable by death or imprisonment for a term exceeding one year, but when so arrested the accused must be taken before a judge or magistrate with all practicable speed and complaint must be made against him under oath setting forth the ground for the arrest as in the preceding section [31-4-13 NMSA 1978]; and thereafter his answer shall be heard as if he had been arrested on a warrant.

History: Laws 1937, ch. 65, § 14; 1941 Comp., § 42-1914; 1953 Comp., § 41-19-14.

Bondsman arresting third party. — Neither the common-law nor statutory authority of a bondsman to make a warrantless arrest of his principal absolves a bondsman of criminal responsibility ensuing from the armed, unauthorized, and forcible entry into the residence of a third party. State v. Lopez, 1986-NMCA-094, 105 N.M. 538, 734 P.2d 778, cert. quashed, 105 N.M. 521, 734 P.2d 761, and cert. denied, 479 U.S. 1092, 107 S. Ct. 1305, 94 L. Ed. 2d 160 (1987).

A foreign bondsman must comply with this article in seeking the rearrest of his principal. State v. Lopez, 1986-NMCA-094, 105 N.M. 538, 734 P.2d 778, cert. quashed, 105 N.M. 521, 734 P.2d 761, and cert. denied, 479 U.S. 1092, 107 S. Ct. 1305, 94 L. Ed. 2d 160 (1987); Lopez v. McCotter, 875 F.2d 273 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 996, 110 S. Ct. 549, 107 L. Ed. 2d 546 (1989).

Retroactive application of State v. Lopez. — The decision of the court of appeals in State v. Lopez, 1986-NMCA-094, 105 N.M. 538, 734 P.2d 778, holding that a foreign bondsman must comply with this article in seeking the rearrest of his principal was so "unexpected" under preexisting law as to prevent its application retroactively. Lopez v. McCotter, 875 F.2d 273 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 996, 110 S. Ct. 549, 107 L. Ed. 2d 546 (1989).