NM Supreme Court rules on fatal DWI cases’ ‘good time’ credit

NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – The state Supreme Court has ruled drunk drivers convicted of vehicular homicide can be released from prison halfway through their sentence if they received good time. When the legislature changed vehicular homicide by DWI or reckless driving from a third to a second-degree felony in 2016, it was no longer considered a serious violent offense, which requires an inmate to serve 85% of their sentence before they can be paroled.

The Bernalillo County District Court determined that was a legislative oversight and sentenced a woman, Julianna Montaño, as a serious violent offender for a 2017 crash, basing the decision on a legal doctrine known as “absurdity.”

The court appeals reversed that decision and the Supreme Court agreed in a unanimous opinion issued Thursday, saying the absurdity doctrine can only be applied when an outcome “contradicts the values of rationality, reasonableness, and common sense.”

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