State v. Ortega

OPINION

RANSOM, Chief Justice.

Reynaldo Ortega was convicted of illegal possession of heroin with intent to distribute under NMSA 1978, Section 30-31-20(A)(3) (Repl.Pamp.1989). Ortega appealed his conviction to the Court of Appeals raising several issues, among which was whether exigent circumstances justified an officer’s unannounced entry into Ortega’s residence to execute a search warrant. The Court of Appeals found that exigent circumstances did justify the unannounced entry but reversed the conviction and remanded for a new trial because the search warrant was overbroad. State v. Ortega,…