AI Generated Opinion Summaries

This summary was computer-generated without any editorial revision. It is not official, has not been checked for accuracy, and is NOT citable.

Facts

The Defendant was charged with several criminal offenses based on a grand jury indictment. The State of New Mexico sought to appeal the district court's dismissal of the indictment. The appeal was filed late due to an inadvertent miscalculation of the number of days in March.

Procedural History

• District Court, Dona Aña County: The district court dismissed the grand jury indictment against the Defendant.

Parties' Submissions

• Appellant (State of New Mexico): Argued that the late filing of the notice of appeal should be excused because it was caused by an inadvertent error in calculating the number of days in March.
• Appellee (Defendant): [Not applicable or not found]

Legal Issues

• Whether the late filing of the State's notice of appeal could be excused under the circumstances.

Disposition

• The appeal was dismissed due to the untimely filing of the notice of appeal.

Reasons

Per Vigil J. (Fry C.J. and Castillo J. concurring):

The Court emphasized that the timely filing of a notice of appeal is a mandatory precondition for the exercise of appellate jurisdiction under Rule 12-201(A)(2) NMRA. The State's memorandum in opposition did not present any exceptional circumstances, such as court error, that might excuse the late filing. The Court cited precedent in State v. Upchurch, which held that even a one-day delay in filing a notice of appeal necessitates dismissal. As no valid justification for the delay was provided, the Court dismissed the appeal.