September 13, 2012 – State of New Mexico v. Guadalupe Urquizo, No. 30,337

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO
Opinion Number: ______________
Filing Date: September 13, 2012
NO. 30,337
STATE OF NEW MEXICO,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
GUADALUPE URQUIZO,
Defendant-Appellant.
APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF CURRY COUNTY
Robert S. Orlik, District Judge
Gary K. King, Attorney General
Margaret McLean, Assistant Attorney General
Joel Jacobsen, Assistant Attorney General
Santa Fe, NM
for Appellee
Jacqueline L. Cooper, Chief Public Defender
Kathleen T. Baldridge, Assistant Appellate Defender
Santa Fe, NM
for Appellant

OPINION
HANISEE, Judge.
{1} 	Defendant Guadalupe Urquizo was convicted of various crimes for the non-fatal
stabbing of a correctional officer at the Curry County Detention Center with a jail-
made weapon, commonly known as a “shank.” In State v. Urquizo (Urquizo I), No.
30,337, slip op. (N.M. Ct. App. Nov. 23, 2011) (mem.), we affirmed Defendant’s
convictions holding that (1) sufficient evidence was presented in support of the
requisite deliberate intent to kill, and (2) the convictions for attempted first-degree
murder and aggravated battery upon a peace officer did not violate double jeopardy
based on State v. Armendariz, 2006-NMSC-036, 140 N.M. 182, 141 P.3d 526, and
State v. Swick (Swick I), 2010-NMCA-098, 148 N.M. 895, 242 P.3d 462.
{2} 	The New Mexico Supreme Court subsequently issued a writ of certiorari in
State v. Urquizo, 2012-NMCERT-001, ___ P.3d ___, to review only “issue numbered
two”—the double jeopardy issue. The case, however, was held in abeyance pending
the outcome of State v. Swick (Swick II), 2012-NMSC-018, 279 P.3d 747. Because
Swick II ultimately reversed Swick I and overruled Armendariz—thereby modifying
the double jeopardy analysis we were bound to apply in Urquizo I—our Supreme
Court quashed the writ of certiorari and remanded to this Court for further
proceedings in light of its disposition in Swick II. See State v. Urquizo, No. 33,342

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(order and mandate filed July 16, 2012). 	We address on remand whether Swick II
changes our conclusion in our previous memorandum opinion that “Defendant’s
convictions for attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery do not violate
double jeopardy.” Urquizo I, No. 30,337, slip op. at 2. For the reasons that follow,
we hold that it does not.
{3} 	The facts on appeal are undisputed. Essentially, Defendant—while imprisoned
at Curry County Detention Center—attacked one of the correctional officers (Officer
Casanova) during a dispute about the cancellation of his recreation period. The attack
was vicious but short in duration and amounted to Defendant stabbing Officer
Casanova five times with a metal shank before being subdued by another officer on
duty (Officer Turvey). Both officers were struck by Defendant’s shank in the melee.
A complete recitation of the event is set forth in our prior memorandum opinion. See
Urquizo I, No. 30,337, slip op. at 2-4.
{4} 	Defendant was convicted on one count of attempted first-degree murder,
contrary to NMSA 1978, Sections 30-28-1 (1963), 30-2-1 (1994); two counts of third-
degree aggravated battery upon a peace officer (one count for each officer), contrary
to NMSA 1978, Section 30-22-25(A) & (C) (1971); and one count of possession of
a deadly weapon by a prisoner, contrary to NMSA 1978, Section 30-22-16 (1986).
On appeal, Defendant raised two points of error: 	(1) sufficiency of the evidence
regarding the intent element of attempted murder and (2) double jeopardy for the

1 The second count of aggravated battery for the attack on Officer Turvey and
the possession of a deadly weapon were not challenged on appeal.
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attempted murder conviction and the aggravated battery conviction for the attack on
Officer Casanova.1 After our memorandum opinion in Urquizo I, which affirmed all
convictions, Defendant sought review of both issues, but our Supreme Court only
granted his petition as to the double jeopardy issue. Thus, our analysis here focuses
on the sole issue on remand: 	whether Defendant’s convictions for the attempted
murder and aggravated battery of Officer Casanova violate double jeopardy in light
of our Supreme Court’s recent opinion in Swick II.
{5} 	In Urquizo I, we characterized Defendant’s double jeopardy argument as a
“double-description” claim; i.e., Defendant was convicted under two separate statutes,
which may or may not be considered the same offense for double jeopardy purposes.
Urquizo I, No. 30,337, slip op. at 9-10 (citing State v. O. Gutierrez, 2011-NMSC-024,
¶ 49, 150 N.M. 232, 258 P.3d 1024). We then applied the Swafford test in what is
“generally a two-part inquiry for double-description claims, first analyzing whether
the conduct underlying the offenses is unitary, i.e., whether the same conduct violates
both statutes[] and, if so, proceeding to analyze whether the [L]egislature intended to
create separately punishable offenses.” 	Urquizo I, No. 30,337, slip op. at 9-10
(internal quotation marks and citation omitted).
{6} 	With respect to the first prong, Defendant argued that the conduct underlying

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his convictions for aggravated battery and attempted murder was unitary, and the State
conceded the point by choosing not to challenge it on appeal. We then proceeded to
the second prong—legislative intent—and determined based on binding Supreme
Court 	and 	Court 	of 	Appeals 	caselaw 	that 	the 	Legislature 	intended 	separate
punishment:
Controlling precedent exists with respect to [the d]efendant’s
challenge to his convictions for attempted murder and for aggravated
battery with a deadly weapon. In [Armendariz], our Supreme Court held
that convictions for both attempted murder and for aggravated battery
with a deadly weapon do not present a double jeopardy problem because
the elements of the offenses are not subsumed within each other and
because other factors indicate legislative intent to separately punish.
Swick I, 2010-NMCA-098, ¶ 20.
{7} 	Our Supreme Court in Swick II overturned that precedent, which was the basis
of our analysis in Urquizo I, and held that the Legislature did not intend separate
punishment. See Swick II, 2012-NMSC-018, ¶ 20 (“[T]he question before this Court
is whether the Legislature authorized multiple punishments under the statutes for
attempted murder and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon for the same conduct.
We conclude that it did not.”). In reaching its conclusion, the Swick II Court applied
the modified Blockburger analysis, as previously adopted in O. Gutierrez, 2011-
NMSC-024, ¶ 58: first determining whether one crime is subsumed within the other,
and then analyzing other indicia of legislative intent, such as “the social harms
addressed by each statute” and the difference in punishments. Swick II, 2012-NMSC-

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018, ¶ 29. It concluded that “considering the State’s theory of the case, the aggravated
battery elements were subsumed within the attempted murder elements” and therefore
“the double jeopardy prohibition [was] violated.” 	Id. ¶ 27. 	Even so, the Court
proceeded to address legislative intent to punish attempted murder and aggravated
battery as separate offenses, which it concluded was ambiguous. 	That ambiguity,
when coupled with the rule of lenity, convinced the Court to hold that multiple
“convictions under the attempted murder and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon
statutes arising from unitary conduct . . . cannot stand” under the double jeopardy
clause. Id. ¶ 30.
{8} 	We cannot discern the same commonality of elements or ambiguity in the
legislative intent to punish separately with respect to the convictions before us. We
do agree that the crime of attempted murder is inherently vague and requires
application of the modified Blockburger test. “Under the attempted murder statutes,
§§ 30-28-1 & 30-2-1, many forms of conduct can support the ‘began to do an act
which constituted a substantial part of Murder’ element . . . [and is therefore] a
generic, multipurpose statute that is ‘vague and unspecific,’ and [requires examination
of] the [s]tate’s theory of the case . . . .” Swick II, 2012-NMSC-018, ¶ 25. But even
under the State’s theory of the case, as demonstrated by the grand jury indictment,
aggravated battery upon a peace officer is elementally distinct from attempted murder.
{9} 	According to Count I of the indictment in this case, to attain a conviction for

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first-degree attempted murder, the State had to prove the following:
That on or about the 23rd day of October, 2008, in Curry County,
New Mexico, the above-named Defendant did intend to commit a felony,
to-wit: Murder, and did commit an overt act in furtherance of said
felony, which act tended but failed to effect its commission, contrary to
[Sections 30-28-1 and 30-2-1].
The State’s presentation at trial clarified that the intended murder victim was Officer
Casanova and the overt act was the stabbing of Officer Casanova multiple times with
a shank.
{10} 	Count II, which charged Defendant with aggravated battery upon a peace
officer, reads:
That on or about the 23rd day of October, 2008, in Curry County,
New Mexico, the above-named Defendant did unlawfully touch or apply
force to the person of a peace officer, to-wit: David Casanova, with
intent to inure [sic] that peace officer, and did so with a deadly weapon,
to-wit: a shank, or did so in a manner whereby great bodily harm or
death could be inflicted, while the officer was in the lawful discharge of
his duties, contrary to [Section 30-22-25(A) and (C)].
Although the conduct of the aggravated battery upon a peace officer serves as the
“overt act” for the attempted murder just as the aggravated battery did in Swick II, here
the aggravated battery also required that Officer Casanova be a peace officer in the
lawful discharge of his duties. 	That extraneous element prevents Defendant’s
conviction for aggravated battery upon a peace officer from being subsumed within
his attempted-murder conviction. As this Court noted recently in State v. S. Gutierrez,
the specific requirement that a victim of a battery also qualify as a household member

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prevented the battery-against-a-household-member conviction from being subsumed
within the robbery conviction. 2012-NMCA-___, ¶ 16, ___ P.3d ___ (No. 30,439,
June 18, 2012). Likewise, the specific intent element of attempted first-degree murder
prevents it from being subsumed within Defendant’s conviction for aggravated battery
upon a peace officer, which in this case was predicated upon use of a deadly weapon,
not intent to kill. 	We thus conclude under the modified Blockburger test that an
“inference” arises that the Legislature intended to punish Defendant’s convictions
separately. See Swick II, 2012-NMSC-018, ¶ 13.
{11} 	We are required to measure that inference against other indicia of legislative
intent to ensure no ambiguity remains. Unlike Swick II, however, where the Court
could not clearly discern the Legislature’s intent with respect to separate punishment
of aggravated battery and attempted murder, we encounter no such problem here. In
Swick II, the Court concluded that legislative intent was ambiguous because (1) both
statutes could be reasonably characterized as targeting “the social evil of harmful
attacks on a person’s physical safety and integrity,” and (2) the disparity in
punishments was indicative of an intent to punish grades of kindred crimes. Id. ¶¶ 29-
30.
{12} 	The social harm targeted by the crime of aggravated battery upon a peace
officer is distinct from that targeted by the crime of attempted murder. Aggravated
battery upon a peace officer falls within an entirely different article of the Criminal

8
Code (Article 22), entitled “Interference with Law Enforcement,” than does general
aggravated battery or attempted murder. 	According to those express categorical
terms, the crimes in that article are designed to deter individuals from impeding the
lawful activity of law enforcement. 	State v. Jackson, 	2009-NMCA-068, ¶ 7, 146
N.M. 563, 212 P.3d 1117 (“The plain language of the statute dictates that the
Legislature 	intended 	to 	criminalize 	actions 	that 	impede 	the 	efforts 	of 	law
enforcement.”), rev’d on other grounds by 2010-NMSC-032, 148 N.M. 452, 237 P.3d
754. 	Furthermore, many of the crimes listed in Article 22 are not merely targeted
toward protecting officers from physical harm but toward the larger goal of ensuring
the integrity of the criminal justice system. See, e.g., NMSA 1978, § 30-22-3 (1963)
(concealing identity); NMSA 1978, § 30-22-5 (2003) (tampering with evidence);
NMSA 1978, § 30-22-18 (1963) (encouraging violation of probation, parole or bail).
As we have previously noted, another purpose underlying the crime of aggravated
battery upon a peace officer is to “protect peace officers in the lawful discharge of
their duties from unlawful assaults and batteries.” State v. Nozie, 2009-NMSC-018,
¶ 30, 146 N.M. 142, 207 P.3d 1119; accord State v. Demongey, 2008-NMCA-066, ¶
22, 144 N.M. 333, 187 P.3d 679 (holding that the Legislature intended to separately
punish attempted second-degree murder and assault on a peace officer with intent to
commit a violent felony, in part because assault upon a peace officer falls into a
category of crimes whose purpose is “aimed at protecting peace officers specifically,

9
rather than the general public”).
{13} 	While we recognize that both the likelihood of these crimes being committed
together, and the disparate punishment between aggravated battery upon a peace
officer (three years) and attempted first-degree murder (nine years), favor Defendant’s
assertion of their mutual incompatibility, we nonetheless hold that the Legislature
intended separate punishment in this instance. C.f. Demongey, 2008-NMCA-066, ¶¶
22-23 (holding that “punishment for attempted second degree murder and assault with
intent to commit a violent felony on a peace officer is permissible,” despite the
disparate punishment and likelihood that the offenses “will generally be committed
together,” in part because “[t]he statutes at hand have different societal purposes”);
S. Gutierrez, 2012-NMCA-___, ¶¶ 21-22 (holding that despite the disparate
punishment between offenses, “a fact that initially favors [the d]efendant’s position,”
the Legislature intended separate punishment for battery on a household member and
robbery).
{14} 	We hold that the Legislature intended to punish aggravated battery upon a peace
officer and attempted first-degree murder separately. 	The single most compelling
indicia of legislative intent, with respect to the coupling of these crimes, is that the
Legislature enacted a crime specifically designed to protect peace officers in a manner
distinct from the generally applicable prohibition against aggravated battery and
housed it under a special section, entitled “Interference with Law Enforcement,”

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which generally targets behavior that impedes the proper administration of criminal
justice. Compare NMSA 1978, § 30-3-5 (1969), with § 30-22-25. Despite Swick II’s
holding that aggravated battery and attempted first-degree murder are not separately
punishable, the clearly distinct social harms targeted by the crimes at issue here
require the opposite result.
CONCLUSION
{15} 	Having considered our holding in light of the New Mexico Supreme Court’s
modified “double description” type double jeopardy analysis in Swick II, we affirm
Defendant’s convictions for aggravated battery upon a peace officer and attempted
first-degree murder.

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{16} 	IT IS SO ORDERED.
________________________
J. MILES HANISEE, Judge
WE CONCUR:
______________________________
CYNTHIA A. FRY, Judge
______________________________
LINDA M. VANZI, Judge