Santillanes v. State

OPINION

FROST, Justice.

We granted the defendant Vincent Santillanes’ writ of certiorari to review the Court of Appeals decision affirming his conviction of child abuse under NMSA 1978, Section 30-6-l(C) (Repl.Pamp.1984). Santillanes’ primary argument is that the provision in the statute under which he was convicted is unconstitutional because it improperly criminalizes ordinary civil negligence. He raises due process and fundamental fairness issues as well as equal protection and cruel and unusual punishment arguments. Santillanes also contests his conviction on the grounds of insufficiency of…