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State v. Gonzales3/26/2001
Defendant appeals his adult sentence as a consequence of the trial court's findings that he was not amenable to treatment as a juvenile or eligible for commitment to an institution for the mentally disordered or developmentally disabled pursuant to NMSA 1978, ยง 32A-2-20 (1996). Defendant argues that the state and federal constitutions require the State to prove these findings to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt before a court may exercise its discretion to sentence a child as an adult. In support of his federal constitutional argument, Defendant relies on Apprendi v. New Jersey, 120 S. Ct. 2348 (2000), in which the Supreme Court struck down a New Jersey law that allowed a court to increase a maximum criminal sentence based on facts not found by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. In addition to his constitutional claims, Defendant argues that, whatever the applicable burden of proof, the evidence was insufficient to support the trial court's findings. We hold that (1) the Apprendi decision is inapplicable to the findings required by Section 32A-2-20(B), (2) the state constitution does not require the State to prove non-amenability or ineligibility for commitment by proof beyond a reasonable doubt, and (3) substantial evidence supported the trial court's findings that Defendant was not amenable to treatment as a child or eligible for commitment. We therefore affirm.
I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Defendant turned fourteen years old on December 14, 1996. On March 13, 1997, after breaking into and vandalizing several other houses, Defendant and an accomplice broke into and ransacked Victim's home while Victim and his wife were away. The two juveniles shot Victim's dog with a .22 caliber rifle, which they had stolen from another house. In addition, Defendant took a .30-30 rifle from a wall in Victim's home and fired several rounds into a wall.
When Victim and his wife returned home with their neighbors, they were alarmed to find that their dog had been shot while tied up in the yard. Victim went inside the house to call the police. The phone was next to a window outside of which Defendant and his accomplice were hiding. Defendant saw Victim, and assuming that Victim had likewise seen him, shot Victim in the chest with the .30-30 rifle. The accomplice then shot Victim in the head "to put him out of his misery."
Around the time that Victim was killed, Victim's wife went inside the house. She saw her husband's body and begged the boys not to kill her. One of the boys told her to give them money and the keys to a truck or they would kill her as well. Wife told them that she did not have any money or the keys. The boys then searched Victim's body, and Wife left the house in search of the neighbors. The boys came out of the house and fired 18 to 22 shots toward Wife and the neighbors. One of the neighbors was hit either by bullet fragments or fragments from a nearby car. The shot that hit the neighbor was fired from the .30-30 rifle that Defendant had stolen from Victim's home. At the time of his arrest, Defendant told the arresting officer that he had shot at the neighbor from about one-half mile away and that it was "a hell of a good shot" but "nothing to be proud of."
Defendant pleaded guilty to second degree murder, aggravated burglary, aggravated battery, and two counts of aggravated assault. Pursuant to Section 32A-2-20(A), the prosecutor had earlier filed a notice of intent to seek an adult sentence. At the amenability hearing, Defendant called eight witnesses, three of whom were experts. The expert witnesses agreed that, at the time of the murder, Defendant was suffering from a variety of mental disorders. These witnesses also testified t
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