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Supreme Court of New Mexico - 849 P.2d 358
Tags: Criminal law, Negligence, Mens rea
See also: State v. Hazelwood
Vincent Santillanes was convicted of child abuse for cutting his nephew's neck with a knife during an altercation. He argued that the statute under which he was convicted is unconstitutional because it criminalizes ordinary civil negligence. The court found that the negligence element under the statute should be defined as criminal negligence rather than civil negligence. However, the trial court refused to instruct the jury on a criminal negligence standard. Santillanes appealed, and the Court of Appeals erred in its interpretation of Rule 5-608, and Santillanes preserved his issue for appeal. The child abuse statute is a valid exercise of the legislature's police power to protect children, and the court's interpretation of the statute requires criminal negligence, not ordinary civil negligence. Despite this, most of the case law in New Mexico has continued to require only ordinary tort negligence in instructions related to the child abuse statute. The Court of Appeals has rejected arguments that the child abuse statute is unconstitutionally vague or allows for arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement.
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