(Download) "State v. Wynn" by New Mexico Court of Appeals ~ Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: State v. Wynn
- Author : New Mexico Court of Appeals
- Release Date : January 05, 2001
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 53 KB
Description
2 Defendant argues that the State was required to prove that he directly touched the victims person or something attached to the victims person. New Mexico defines aggravated battery against a household member as "the unlawful touching or application of force to the person of a household member with intent to injure that person or another." NMSA 1978, § 30-3-16(A) (1995) (emphasis added). In our view, the phrase "application of force" clearly addresses the situation in which the defendant does not touch the victim himself, but instead, sets in motion a series of physical events ultimately resulting in the application of force to the victim. Most obviously, an "application of force to the person" can occur without a direct touching when a defendant pulls the trigger of a gun, resulting in a violent chemical reaction generating a burst of high pressure gases which propel a bullet against or into the victims person. See State v. Ortega, 113 N.M. 437, 440, 827 P.2d 152, 155 (Ct. App. 1992) (citing with approval Stokes v. State, 115 N.E.2d 442 (Ind. 1953) (holding "unlawful touching" element of battery established by evidence that defendant fired gun and that bullet perforated victims necktie, creasing victims shirt)). We enforce a statute according to its plain meaning, unless to do so will lead to absurd or unreasonable results. State v. Wyrostek, 108 N.M. 140, 142, 767 P.2d 379, 381 (Ct. App. 1988). Here, there was evidence that Defendant broke the kitchen window of the victims apartment while the victim was standing in front of the window and that the victim was cut by a flying shard of glass. Applying the plain meaning of "application of force," we hold that Defendants act of striking the window with sufficient force to propel the glass inward and against the victim constituted the application of force to the victim within the meaning of Section 30-3-16(A).
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