State v. Montoya

OPINION

VIGIL, Chief Justice.

This case presents another example of the ongoing confusion created by our child abuse jury instructions. Breandra Pena (Baby Breandra), age seventeen months, died while in the care of Nathan Montoya (Defendant). Defendant was convicted of intentional child abuse resulting in the death of a child under twelve contrary to NMSA 1978, Section 30-6-1(D), (H) (2009) and sentenced to life imprisonment.

In our review of Defendant’s conviction on direct appeal, we first hold that the jury instructions used in Defendant’s trial accurately instructed the jury of the law and…