Background
Patrick Howard, a high school agricultural teacher, pleaded guilty to third-degree criminal sexual contact of a minor by a person in a position of authority and to battery. Under a plea agreement, the district court entered a conditional discharge and imposed five years of supervised probation with sex-offender treatment.
After Howard had served less than three years without violations, the district court granted his motion for early termination of probation. The State did not object at that hearing and approved the discharge orders, but later moved to reinstate probation, arguing that the sex-offender probation statute required an indeterminate term of at least five and up to twenty years. The district court denied the motion, reasoning that the statute did not apply to a conditional discharge.
The Court’s Holding
The Court of Appeals reversed. It held that NMSA 1978, Section 31-20-5.2(A), applies to qualifying sex offenders who receive a conditional discharge under Section 31-20-13. Although the sex-offender statute refers to deferred and suspended sentences, the conditional-discharge statute incorporates the general probation statute, which expressly excepts sex offenders as provided in Section 31-20-5.2.
Howard’s original definite five-year probation term was therefore illegal: the statute requires an indeterminate supervised-probation term of not less than five and not more than twenty years. Howard was not eligible for early termination before completing the initial five years, and correcting the sentence did not violate double jeopardy because he lacked an objectively reasonable expectation of finality in an illegal sentence. But because the illegal five-year term was part of the plea agreement, due process requires that Howard receive an opportunity to withdraw his plea on remand.
Key Takeaways
- The sex-offender-specific probation statute applies to eligible defendants receiving conditional discharges.
- A definite five-year probation term is not equivalent to the required indeterminate five-to-twenty-year term.
- When correction of an illegal plea sentence changes a bargained-for term, the defendant must have an opportunity to withdraw the plea.
Why It Matters
The decision confirms that conditional discharge cannot be used to avoid mandatory sex-offender probation requirements. Courts must impose an indeterminate term between five and twenty years, with duration review available only after the initial five years.
It also underscores that plea agreements cannot authorize illegal sentences. Even where a sentence must be corrected, however, defendants may be entitled to withdraw a plea if the correction alters a material promised term.