Turley v. State

OPINION

EASLEY, Chief Justice.

Turley was charged with using mechanical earth-moving equipment to excavate an archaeological site on another person’s private property to remove objects of antiquity without a permit. The trial court dismissed the criminal information. The Court of Appeals reversed. We reverse the Court of Appeals and affirm the trial court’s dismissal of the criminal information against Turley.

The issue is whether Turley, employed by the landowner to do the digging, violated Section 18-6-11, N.M.S.A. 1978 (Repl. Pamp. 1980), in excavating on the employer’s land without a permit…