2021 New Mexico Statutes
Article 11A - Sex Offender Registration and Notification
Section 29-11A-7 - Notice to sex offenders of duty to register.

A. A court shall provide a sex offender convicted in that court with written notice of his duty to register pursuant to the provisions of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act. The written notice shall be included in judgment and sentence forms provided to the sex offender. The written notice shall inform the sex offender that he is required to:
(1) register with the county sheriff for the county in which the sex offender will reside or, if the sex offender will not have an established residence, with the county sheriff for each county in which the sex offender will live or be temporarily located pursuant to the provisions of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act;
(2) report subsequent changes of address pursuant to the provisions of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act;
(3) notify the county sheriff of the county he resides in if the sex offender intends to move to another state and that the sex offender is required to register in the other state pursuant to the provisions of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act;
(4) disclose his status as a sex offender in writing when he begins employment, begins a vocation or enrolls as a student at an institution of higher education in New Mexico to the county sheriff for the county in which the institution of higher education is located and to the law enforcement entity and registrar for the institution of higher education pursuant to the provisions of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act;
(5) provide written notice of any change regarding his employment, vocation or enrollment status at an institution of higher education to the county sheriff, the law enforcement entity and the registrar pursuant to the provisions of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act;
(6) disclose his status as a sex offender in writing when he enrolls as a student at a private or public school in New Mexico, to the county sheriff for the county in which the school is located and to the principal of the school pursuant to the provisions of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act;
(7) provide written notice of any change regarding his enrollment status at a public or private school in New Mexico to the county sheriff and the principal of the school pursuant to the provisions of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act;
(8) disclose his status as a sex offender in writing to his employer, supervisor or other person similarly situated, when he begins employment, begins a vocation or volunteers his services, regardless of whether the sex offender receives payment or other compensation, pursuant to the provisions of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act; and
(9) read and sign a form that indicates that the sex offender has received the written notice and that a responsible court official, designated by the chief judge for that judicial district, has explained the written notice to the sex offender.
B. The corrections department, a municipal or county jail or a detention center at the time of release of a sex offender in its custody, shall provide a written notice to the sex offender of his duty to register, pursuant to the provisions of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act. The written notice shall inform the sex offender that he is required to:
(1) register with the county sheriff for the county in which the sex offender will reside or, if the sex offender will not have an established residence, with the county sheriff for each county in which the sex offender will live or be temporarily located pursuant to the provisions of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act;
(2) report subsequent changes of address pursuant to the provisions of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act;
(3) notify the county sheriff of the county he resides in if the sex offender intends to move to another state and that the sex offender is required to register in the other state pursuant to the provisions of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act;
(4) disclose his status as a sex offender in writing when he begins employment, begins a vocation or enrolls as a student at an institution of higher education in New Mexico to the county sheriff for the county in which the institution of higher education is located and to the law enforcement entity and registrar for the institution of higher education pursuant to the provisions of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act;
(5) provide written notice of any change regarding his employment, vocation or enrollment status at an institution of higher education to the county sheriff, the law enforcement entity and the registrar pursuant to the provisions of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act;
(6) disclose his status as a sex offender in writing when he enrolls as a student at a private or public school in New Mexico, to the county sheriff for the county in which the school is located and to the principal of the school pursuant to the provisions of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act;
(7) provide written notice of any change regarding his enrollment status at a public or private school in New Mexico to the county sheriff and the principal of the school pursuant to the provisions of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act;
(8) disclose his status as a sex offender in writing to his employer, supervisor or other person similarly situated, when he begins employment, begins a vocation or volunteers his services, regardless of whether the sex offender receives payment or other compensation, pursuant to the provisions of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act; and
(9) read and sign a form that indicates that the sex offender has received the written notice and that a responsible corrections department official, designated by the secretary of corrections, or a responsible municipal or county jail official or detention center official has explained the written notice to the sex offender.
C. A court, the corrections department, a municipal or county jail or a detention center shall also provide written notification regarding a sex offender's release to the sheriff of the county in which the sex offender is released and to the department of public safety.
D. The department of public safety, at the time it is notified by officials from another state that a sex offender will be establishing residence in New Mexico, shall provide written notice to the sex offender of his duty to register pursuant to the provisions of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.
History: Laws 1995, ch. 106, § 7; 1999, ch. 19, § 6; 2000, ch. 8, § 5; 2005, ch. 279, § 6.
The 2005 amendment, effective July 1, 2005, provided in Subsection A(1) that the notice shall inform the sex offender that if he does not have an established address, he shall register with the sheriff of each county in which he will live or be temporarily located; added Subsections A(4) through (8) to provide that the notice shall inform the sex offender that he is required to disclose his status when he begins employment or a vocation or enrolls in an institution of higher education, provide notice of any changes in his employment, vocation or enrollment status, disclose his status as a sex offender when he enrolls at a private or public school; provide notice of any changes in his enrollment at a public or private school; disclose his status as a sex offender when he begins employment, a vocation or volunteers his services; provided in Subsection B that a municipal or county jail or detention center at the time of release of a sex offender shall provide notice to the sex offender of this duty to register; provided in Subsection B(1) that the notice shall inform the sex offender that if he will not have an established residence, he must register with the sheriff of each county in which he will live or be temporarily located; added Subsections B(4) through (8) to provide that the notice shall inform the sex offender that he is required to disclose his status when he begins employment or a vocation or enrolls in an institution of higher education, provide notice of any changes in his employment, vocation or enrollment status, disclose his status as a sex offender when he enrolls at a private or public school; provide notice of any changes in his enrollment at a public or private school; disclose his status as a sex offender when he begins employment, a vocation or volunteers his services; provided in Subsection B(9) that the sex offender shall sign a form that he has received the notice and that a responsible municipal or county jail official or detention center official has explained the notice to him; and provided in Subsection C that a municipal or county jail or a detention center shall provide notification to the sheriff of the county in which the sex offender is released and to the department.
Applicability. — Laws 2005, ch. 279, §14, effective July 1, 2005, provided that Laws 2005, ch. 279, §§ 1 through 13 apply to a person convicted of a sex offense on or after July 1, 2005 and a person convicted of a sex offense prior to July 1, 2005 and who, on July 1, 2005, was still incarcerated, on probation or on parole for commission of that sex offense.
The 2000 amendment, effective July 1, 2000, rewrote Subsections A and B, adding Paragraphs (1) to (4); designated the former last sentence in Subsection B as present Subsection C and redesignated former Subsection C as present Subsection D, in present Subsection C, added "and to the department of public safety" at the end; and, in Subsection D, substituted "notice" for "notification".
Applicability. — Laws 2000, ch. 8, § 9 made the provisions of this 2000 version of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act applicable to persons convicted of a sex offense on or after July 1, 1995 and to persons convicted of a sex offense prior to July 1, 1995 and who, on July 1, 1995, were incarcerated, on probation or on parole.
The 1999 amendment, effective July 1, 1999, inserted "and Notification" in Subsections A, B, and C, and substituted "convicted" for "adjudicated guilty" in Subsection A.
Conditional discharge. — Notice requiring defendant to register as a sex offender pursuant to this section did not need to be placed in a conditional discharge order. State v. Herbstman, 1999-NMCA-014, 126 N.M. 683, 974 P.2d 177.
Jurisdiction of district court. — Under its broad grant of jurisdiction and under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, Chapter 29, Article 11A NMSA 1978, a district court has jurisdiction to determine whether a defendant is a sex offender and to give the defendant written notice of the registration requirements under this section; however, the court is not authorized to order defendant to comply with the registration requirement, that is a statutorily mandated duty under Section 29-11A-4 NMSA 1978. State v. Brothers, 2002-NMCA-110, 133 N.M. 36, 59 P.3d 1268, cert. denied, 133 N.M. 30, 59 P.3d 1262.
Failure to advise a defendant of collateral sex offender registration requirements is per se deficient performance. — A defense attorney's failure to advise a defendant entering into a plea which requires Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act registration of that consequence is per se deficient performance under the first prong of the Strickland test. State v. Trammell, 2016-NMSC-030, rev'g 2014-NMCA-107, 336 P.3d 977.
Where defendant, who stole a truck, unaware that there was a twelve-year-old boy in the back seat, pleaded guilty to false imprisonment of a minor, which at the time was a sex offense requiring registration under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), and where, prior to defendant's plea, defense counsel failed to advise defendant of the SORNA registration consequences of his guilty plea, defendant's attorney's performance was per se deficient, because the failure to advise a defendant of collateral SORNA registration requirements has been a well-established prerequisite to the effective assistance of counsel when arranging a plea agreement, but defendant's claim of ineffective assistance of counsel failed, because defendant failed to establish a reasonable probability that, but for defense counsel's unprofessional errors, he would not have pleaded guilty and instead gone to trial, based on defendant's testimony that had he been advised that he was pleading to a sex offense, he would have tried to negotiate a different plea agreement, the fact that defendant received some benefits by accepting the plea, and that the state had a strong case against defendant. State v. Trammell, 2016-NMSC-030, rev'g 2014-NMCA-107, 336 P.3d 977.