Legal Question in Criminal Law in New Mexico

if a person is arrested and charged for a violent offense on the state level(state of new mexico)and after defense attorney and prosecutor hash it out , all agree and the defendant plead's out to a non-violent offense@ state court.giving him a non-violent conviction on the charges. while pleading no-contest...Two years later same defendant is arrested on the federal level....how would the federal prosecutor using the federal guidelines scale calculate the prior offense..as a violent, or non-violent prior conviction??for purpose of calculating the defendants criminal history points....in federal court will they count the prior conviction in state court as violent or non-violent offense??


Asked on 8/15/11, 11:06 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Charles Aspinwall Charles S. Aspinwall, J.D., LLC

If there was a finding of guilt to a crime included within any violent state felony, the feds will count it when listing prior convictions, even if a higher charge was dismissed. The answer is different for felonies more than 10 years old which are generally not counted, unless the conviction involved any sex offense.

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Answered on 8/15/11, 12:07 pm


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