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State v. Dominguez1/27/2005
999-NMSC-045, 14 (emphasis added). It would perhaps have been clearer if we had stated that a rational jury could find the element of great bodily harm beyond a reasonable doubt based on evidence of death. "An injury that causes death, surely often, if not always, causes a high probability of death." Id. Factually, evidence that an injury has actually caused death may be used to demonstrate the element of great bodily harm because, consistent with Section 30-1-12(A), it establishes an injury that creates a high probability of death. See Varela, 1999-NMSC- 045, 13. However, this evidentiary use of the fact of death does not mean that death, as a statutory term, is interchangeable with great bodily harm for purposes of the Criminal Code.
Comparing the voluntary manslaughter statute with the shooting at or from a motor vehicle statute and the statutory definition of great bodily harm in Section 30-1- 12(A), it is clear that the Legislature does not "equate" death with great bodily harm. Otherwise, great bodily harm of any form as defined in Section 30-1-12(A) would be sufficient to prove an unlawful killing within the meaning of the voluntary manslaughter statute, which would be clearly contrary to the Legislature's intent and would be an absurd result. Voluntary manslaughter, like first and second degree murder, requires a death; the second degree felony of shooting at or from a motor vehicle resulting in great bodily harm does not. Thus, while death may be one evidentiary means of proving great bodily harm under Section 30-3-8(B), death is not a statutory element of the crime. For a Blockburger same elements test, this distinction is critical. " he proper inquiry focuses upon the elements of the statutes in question_the evidence and proof offered at trial are immaterial." Swafford, 112 N.M. at 8, 810 P.2d at 1228; accord Illinois v. Vitale, 447 U.S. 410, 416 (1980) (" he Blockburger test focuses on the proof necessary to prove the statutory elements of each offense, rather than on the actual evidence to be presented at trial."); Iannelli v. United States, 420 U.S. 770, 785 n.17 (1975) (" pplication of the test focuses on the statutory elements of the offense. If each requires proof of a fact that the other does not, the Blockburger test is satisfied, notwithstanding a substantial overlap in the proof offered to establish the crimes.").
Because the statutory definition of shooting at or from a motor vehicle resulting in great bodily harm in Section 30-3-8(B) does not include death as an element of the crime, the fact that the State proved the element of great bodily harm with evidence of Solisz's death does not require us to construe Section 30-3-8(B) as a homicide statute. Consistent with the statutory elements, and similar to the jury instructions in Gonzales, the jury instructions in this case listed the killing of Solisz as an element of voluntary manslaughter but listed only great bodily harm to Solisz as an element of shooting at or from a motor vehicle. Compare UJI 14-220 NMRA 2005 (listing the element of killing the victim for voluntary manslaughter), with UJI 14-344 (listing the element of causing great bodily harm for shooting at or from a motor vehicle). The jury also received an instruction defining great bodily harm that mirrors the statutory definition of the term in Section 30-1-12(A). See UJI 14-131 NMRA 2005. Therefore, the element of an unlawful killing for voluntary manslaughter is distinct from the elements of the crime of shooting at or from a motor vehicle.
Moreover, voluntary manslaughter has an additional element that differs from the elements of shooting at or from a motor vehicle. The mens rea required for voluntary manslaughter is the same as the mens
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