Jerry Alvin Kersey, Petitioner v. Timothy Hatch

Summary

The New Mexico Supreme Court held that the later felony-murder decision announced a new procedural rule because it replaced the prior fact-specific unitary-conduct analysis with a categorical bar on separate convictions for felony murder and the predicate felony. Applying the Teague framework, the Court held that the rule was not substantive and was not a watershed criminal-procedure rule, so it did not apply retroactively to Petitioner's final conviction. The Court affirmed dismissal of the state habeas petition.