State of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Petitioner v. Leonardo Gallegos, Defendant-Respondent

Summary

The court held that the charges involving two victims were properly joined but should have been severed because the evidence would not have been cross-admissible in separate trials under the rules governing other-acts evidence. It nevertheless found the severance error harmless as to the two aggravated-indecent-exposure convictions, while concluding that the error actually prejudiced the criminal-sexual-contact conviction and required a new trial. The court reversed the intermediate appellate court as to the exposure convictions and affirmed its reversal of the criminal-sexual-contact conviction.