Rule 5-509 NMRA
Rule 5-509. Habitual criminal proceedings; notice of attack on prior sentence.
A. Notice. If the defense in a habitual criminal sentencing proceeding intends to
attack the validity of any prior conviction, unless a different period of time is ordered by
the court, no later than ten (10) days before the habitual criminal sentencing
proceeding, the defendant shall provide the state with a written notice of this intention.
The defendant's notice of intent to attack a prior conviction shall contain specific
information about each conviction the defendant intends to attack as invalid and the
names and addresses of the witnesses by whom the defendant proposes to establish
this defense. Not less than five (5) days before the habitual criminal sentencing
proceeding or at any other time as the district court may direct, the district attorney shall
serve on the defendant the names and addresses, as particularly as known to the
district attorney, of the witnesses the state proposes to offer in rebuttal to discredit the
defendant's claim that the prior conviction was invalid.
B. Continuing duty to give notice. Both the defendant and the district attorney
shall be under a continuing duty to promptly disclose the names and addresses of
additional witnesses which come to the attention of either party after filing their
respective witness lists as provided in this rule.
C. Failure to give notice. If a defendant fails to serve a copy of the notice as
required by this rule, the court may exclude evidence offered by the defendant for the
purpose of proving a prior conviction was invalid, except the testimony of the defendant
himself. If the notice is given by a defendant, the district court may exclude the
testimony of any witness offered by the defendant for the purpose of proving the
invalidity of a prior conviction if the name and address of the witness was known to
defendant or his attorney but was not stated in the notice. If the district attorney fails to
file a list of witnesses and serve a copy of it on the defendant as provided in this rule,
the court may exclude evidence offered by the state to contradict the defendant's
evidence. If the notice is given by the district attorney, the court may exclude the
testimony of any witnesses offered by the district attorney for the purpose of
contradicting the defendant's claim that a prior conviction was invalid if the name and
address of the witness is known to the district attorney but was not stated in the notice.
For good cause shown, the court may waive the requirements of this rule.