State v. Rudy B.

OPINION

BOSSON, Justice.

{1} New Mexico law requires a trial judge to hold an evidentiary hearing to determine whether a juvenile, adjudicated as a youthful offender for having committed certain serious criminal offenses, is “amenable” to treatment or rehabilitation in juvenile facilities or should be sentenced to prison as an adult. See NMSA 1978, § 32A-2-20 (1993) (amended 2009). Our courts have labored for years debating whether the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial requires the amenability determination to be made by the jury or by the trial judge as the statute provides. See State v.…