State of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellee v. Benjamin Montoya, Defendant-Appellant

Summary

The Court vacated the felony-murder conviction because the jury instruction omitted the essential element that the defendant did not act under legally sufficient provocation, which was fundamental error. It held that the jury’s voluntary-manslaughter verdict impliedly acquitted Defendant of second-degree murder and therefore barred retrial for felony murder, and that cumulative punishment for the homicide and drive-by-shooting offenses was prohibited. The Court reinstated the drive-by-shooting conviction, rejected the impartial-jury claim, declined to decide the remaining ineffective-assistance claim on direct appeal, and remanded for an amended judgment and sentence.