State v. Chavez
State v. Chavez
Opinion
{1} Defendant appeals his convictions for driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor (DWI), pursuant to NMSA 1978, Section 66-8-102 (2016), and for following too closely, pursuant to NMSA 1978, Section 66-7-318 (1978). Defendant raises a single issue on appeal-that Section 66-7-318 is unconstitutionally *127 vague and therefore void. We issued a notice of proposed summary disposition proposing to affirm, in response to which Defendant filed a memorandum in opposition. After due consideration of Defendant's arguments we affirm Defendant's convictions for the reasons discussed below.
BACKGROUND
{2} New Mexico State Police Officer Bobbie Terrazas observed Defendant's vehicle following another vehicle and initiated a traffic stop. Officer Terrazas testified that she stopped the vehicle for following too closely based on a "highway standard" that for "every ten[-]miles[-per hour] you are going, it's a car length." According to Officer Terrazas, she observed no sky between the vehicles, leading her to believe that the distance between Defendant's vehicle and the vehicle he was following was less than a car length. As a result of the stop Officer Terrazas obtained evidence leading to Defendant's DWI conviction.
{3} Defendant moved to suppress the evidence obtained after the stop, claiming that Officer Terrazas lacked reasonable suspicion to stop his vehicle. He indicates that at the suppression hearing he argued that the following-too-closely statute lacks specificity, making it difficult to enforce and providing no objective standard to which the public can conform its behavior. The motion was denied, Defendant was convicted of the traffic offenses, and he appealed to this Court.
DISCUSSION
{4} Defendant claims that Officer Terrazas had no reasonable suspicion to stop his vehicle because the following-too-closely statute is unconstitutionally vague. Section 66-7-318 prohibits a driver of a motor vehicle from "follow[ing] another vehicle more closely than is reasonable and prudent, having due regard for the speed of such vehicles and the traffic upon and the condition of the highway." According to Defendant the "reasonable and prudent" standard is constitutionally unenforceable for two reasons: first, it provides officers with too much discretion in deciding when the statute has been violated, and second, it provides insufficient guidance to the motoring public in determining how closely they may follow another vehicle without violating the statute.
{5} When a defendant contends that a statute is unconstitutionally vague, we review the claim "in light of the facts of the case and the conduct which is prohibited by the statute."
State v. Laguna
,
(1) it fails to provide persons of ordinary intelligence using ordinary common sense a fair opportunity to determine whether their conduct is prohibited; or
(2) it fails to create minimum guidelines for the reasonable police officer, prosecutor, judge, or jury charged with enforcement of the statute, and thereby encourages subjective and ad hoc application.
State v. Jacquez
,
{6} We have already addressed the constitutionality of the "reasonable and prudent" standard of Section 66-7-318 in a non-precedential opinion.
State v. Sanchez
, No. A-1-CA-34170,
{7} In addition to
Hunter
, a number of opinions from other jurisdictions have come to the same conclusion as we did in
Sanchez
, regarding the constitutionality of the "reasonable and prudent" standard in the context of following too closely.
See, e.g.
,
State v. Harper
,
{8} We see no reason to depart from the overwhelming weight of precedent addressing this issue. We do note that in our notice of proposed summary disposition we challenged Defendant to locate even one case in which the "reasonable and prudent" standard was held to be constitutionally vague. In response, Defendant cited two cases involving speeding statutes, one decided in 1963 and one decided in 1912, which did indeed invalidate the statutes in question because they provided no numerical speed limit but instead prohibited driving at a speed greater than was reasonable and prudent or reasonable and proper.
State v. Campbell
,
{9} We note finally that Defendant's docketing statement argued that we should depart from the federal and out-of-state authorities addressing this issue because our state Constitution has been construed to provide greater protection than that granted by the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. In our notice of proposed summary disposition we pointed out that this argument seems irrelevant to the void-for-vagueness argument made in this case. We also stated that we are aware of no authority indicating that our application of constitutional vagueness principles is, or should be, more exacting than the federal courts' or any other state's application of those principles. In response, Defendant refers briefly to a "right to locomotion" and the federal courts' willingness to restrict that right, as exemplified by the
Hunter
opinion. This summary statement is not sufficient to explain Defendant's theory that the state Constitution provides greater protection in the void-for-vagueness and traffic-laws
*129
context than does the federal Constitution, and we therefore do not address the argument.
See
State v. Gonzales
,
CONCLUSION
{10} Based on the foregoing, we conclude that the district court did not err in denying Defendant's motion to suppress, and we affirm Defendant's convictions.
{11} IT IS SO ORDERED.
WE CONCUR:
J. MILES HANISEE, Judge
STEPHEN G. FRENCH, Judge
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.