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66 N.M. 381

348 P.2d 742

Blevins v. Cook

New Mexico Supreme Court

Decided January 11, 1960

New Mexico Supreme Court · decided 1960-01-11

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1960-01-11

How this case has been cited

Cited by 16 later decisions — most recently November 2010

4 federal appellate · 10 state decisions

80196019701980199020002010decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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COMPTON, Justice

¶1(dissenting).

¶2The majority would reverse this judgment mainly because (a) in the insanity proceeding the court did not designate Cook’s attorney in the Order, (b) that the hearing was premature, and (c) a certified copy of the insanity proceedings was not attached to the petition for the appointment of a guardian.

¶3While these irregularities appear, the evidence conclusively show's that the trial court vigilantly protected the rights of Cook. Counsel was appointed for him by the court, and counsel represented him at the hearing.

¶4I pose these questions. Must a raving maniac remain in custody, perhaps in a padded cell, five days or more, before he can be afforded a trial? The effect of the majority opinion is to so hold. What else could his counsel have done for him by being named in the Order that he did not do ? The answer, of course, is nothing. These were mere irregularities committed by the court in the exercise, of its jurisdiction, and do not render the judgments in the priof proceedings, subject to collateral attack. The majority concluding otherwise, I dissent.

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