Appeals Division Highlights
Criminal Appeals
The Criminal Appeals Division represents the State in every criminal appeal filed
in New Mexico, including those filed by prosecutors from suppression of evidence
and defendants challenging convictions. The appellate process includes review by
the New Mexico Court of Appeals, the New Mexico Supreme Court and may include the
United States Supreme Court. Work by the Criminal Appeals Division in these courts
includes memoranda in opposition, briefs-in-chief, answer briefs, reply briefs,
certiorari petitions and responses, and motions relating to the appeal. Any appellate
court may also be schedule oral argument.
Federal Habeas Corpus
New Mexico prisoners who have exhausted avenues of relief in New Mexico courts may
file federal habeas petitions. The Criminal Appeals Division litigates these claims
in Federal District Court, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States
Supreme Court. Pleadings include answers, motions, petitions, and briefs. In addition,
there may be evidentiary hearings in district court, and oral argument at the Tenth
Circuit. In addition to these actions by division attorneys, a federal habeas corpus
administrator is required to accumulate and provide to federal courts the records
from state court trials, state appeals and state habeas corpus proceedings relating
to the prisoner who filed the federal habeas petition.
State Habeas Corpus
State habeas corpus cases are litigated in the New Mexico district courts and then
appealed by writ to the New Mexico Supreme Court. Prisoners may receive appointed
counsel and, due to this factor and the dramatic limitations now imposed on federal
habeas claims, state habeas corpus litigation has increased dramatically. Pleadings
filed by the State include responses to petitions, proposed findings of fact and
conclusions of law, briefs, and motions. State habeas cases often require a hearing
in state district court and oral argument may be heard in the New Mexico Supreme
Court.
Extradition
The Criminal Appeals Division reviews every governor’s warrant, whether seeking
extradition of a prisoner to another state or New Mexico seeking to have a prisoner
held elsewhere returned to New Mexico. The Criminal Appeals Division also represents
the State in all extradition litigation in the New Mexico Court of Appeals, the
New Mexico Supreme Court and in the United States Supreme Court.