4/9/09
Lawyers for the politically connected Santa Fe attorney accused of killing a San Ildefenso Pueblo man in a drunk driving accident Nov. 26, 2008, are seeking to get the trial venue changed from Santa Fe County to Rio Arriba County, according to court documents.
In a motion filed April 1 in state District Court, lawyers Robert Gorence and Jason Bowles argued extensive print and television media coverage of the incident would taint a Santa Fe jury pool against their client, Carlos Fierro.
“Prejudice may be established if a community is so saturated by a barrage of inflammatory and biased publicity, close to the beginning of legal proceedings, that the trial inevitably takes place in an atmosphere of intense public passion,” the lawyers argued in the motion.
The motion states that television media has a greater ability to contaminate a jury pool than print media, and that smaller communities are more easily contaminated than large cities with many high-profile cases each year.
Bowles said Monday that Rio Arriba was chosen because court rules usually require a case to stay in the same judicial district where it originated. Rio Arriba and Santa Fe counties are both inthe First Judicial District.
Bowles also argues that the fact that Fierro’s alleged blood alcohol concentration of .21 should not have been released before it was deemed admissible by a judge. He did not say specifically whether there was evidence the figure was inaccurate or collected improperly.
“It was an anticipated motion; I anticipated that it was going to come,” District Attorney Angela Pacheco said Monday.
Pacheco said she and Deputy District Attorney Juan Valencia would handle the case regardless of where the trial is held.
No date has yet been set for the motion hearing, Bowles said.
Fierro was a former staffer for U.S. Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) and a candidate for the state Public Regulation Commission in 2004.
Former State Police Sgt. Alfred Lovato was a passenger in Fierro’s car the night of the accident but has not been charged with any crime. Lovato is a native of Rio Arriba County and the brother of District 7 State Police Capt. Captain Daniel Lovato, who is based in Española.