State of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Respondent v. Vincent Montoya, Defendant-Petitioner

Summary

The New Mexico Supreme Court held that the trial court erred in excluding the victim’s testimony about the parties’ prior sexual relationship, violating the defendant’s Sixth Amendment Confrontation Clause rights. The Court clarified that challenges to evidence exclusions grounded in the Confrontation Clause are reviewed de novo and that the error was not harmless, thus reversing the conviction and remanding for a new trial.