Mayor Tim Keller is issuing directives to the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) to examine how they review and investigate suspected child abuse or children’s safety cases.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1174003/keller-calls-on-police-to-review-suspected-child-abuse-investigations.html

Mayor Keller and Interim Chief Geier have said that no one with APD violated any policies or procedures investigating a suspected child abuse case and when an APD officer tossed out the blood-stained underwear of the 7-year-old child rather than tagging it into evidence.

What is difficult to reconcile is Mayor Keller’s position on the evidence gathering by APD in the case involving a child’s blood stained garments when as State Auditor he called for the processing of the over 4,000 backlogged “rape kits” and now as Mayor he has made sure that $1.5 million is allocated to APD to process the rape kits.

WHAT MAYOR KELLER SAID AND ORDERED

In a press release announcing what action he wants APD to take, Mayor Keller said:

“We’re going to do everything we can to try to prevent this from happening [ever again]. It’s going to take all of us – law enforcement agencies, child advocates, prosecutors and the courts. … Today we’re stepping up ourselves, and we’re reaching out to all these partners to address coordination for cases impacting children’s safety. We’re asking all of these partners to review how they interact on child abuse, sexual assault and human trafficking cases, including the handling of evidence. We’ve got to figure out a way to build a system that protects our kids.”

Mayor Tim Keller is ordering APD to undertake the following steps:

1. Review child abuse cases for patterns that raise red flags.
2. Work on trauma-informed interviewing techniques.
3. Use the Real Time Crime Center to identify people with repeat interactions with law enforcement or child welfare agencies.
4. Work with a state Children, Youth and Families Department task force to review prior cases.
5. Prioritize recruitment and funding for civilian and sworn positions that work on children’s cases.
6. Reach out to other law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, the courts, CYFD and child advocates to coordinate crimes against children cases.
7. Evaluate policies on evidence collection.

Mayor Keller’s words and orders are indeed noble and commendable.

Regrettably, it is not likely that anything will be actually be done or accomplished with his words alone.

COMMENTARY

Mayor Tim Keller is to be commended for issuing the directives to APD.

However, Mayor Keller’s directives are nothing more than words on paper issued in a press release.

If history is any indication of what will happen, Mayor Keller’s directives will sit on a shelf and collect dust, essentially ignored by APD.

All too often after horrific crimes against a child happens, elected officials express outrage and quickly announce proposed changes in the law, increase penalties, often including reinstating the death penalty for heinous crimes against children.

The typical public relations approach is to demand a review of policies and procedures and vow to hold people accountable for their inaction or incompetence.

Ultimately, nothing happens and no one is held accountable.

APD, all police officers and the command staff need to fully commit without any reservation whatsoever to fulfill their motto of “to serve and protect”, especially when it comes to our children, otherwise the motto is meaningless.

Every step and every effort must be made by APD to protect our children and ensure swift justice is bought upon those who do harm to our innocent children.

It is apparent that there is a mind set by APD Interim Chief Geier and Mayor Keller that what happened in the most recent case involving the collection of evidence is acceptable to them.

Both Mayor Keller and Interim Chief Geier have bend over backwards to defend the actions of APD and saying no policies or procedures were violated.

There must be severe ramifications and people must be held accountable for the shoddy investigation such as what happened with this child, including APD personnel and CYFD personnel.

This city and state has seen and heard all this before from elected officials, mayors and governors included, yet the heinous crimes continue.

Hell, eight years ago Republican Governor Martinez was elected in part because of publicity she garnered as an elected District Attorney prosecuting the “Baby Brianna” child abuse case.

Lest anyone forget, baby Brianna Lopez was the 5-month old who was brutally raped and beat to death in 2002 by her own mother.

Since 2001, in New Mexico, no less than 22 children, ranging from ages of 5 weeks old to 3, 4, 5 months old to 3, 4, 5, and 11 years old, have been killed as a result of child physical and sexual abuse.

(Re: August 31, 2016 Albuquerque Journal Editorial Guest column by Allen Sanchez.)

All too often, our elected officials express outrage over what happens in horrific child abuse cases.

All too often people do not hear, or for that matter do not want to hear or even care about the horrific details of crimes against children.

TWO CHILDREN REMEMBERED

A review and remembrance of the facts of two cases are in order.

The images from the facts are very hard to forget, but what happened must be remembered if we are to learn anything as a community.

NINE-YEAR-OLD OMAREE VARELA

In 2014, 9-year-old Omaree Varela was found beaten to death months after placing a desperate 911 call to APD.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/05/omaree-varela-911_n_5266973.html

Nine-year-old Omaree Varela called 911 from his Albuquerque home 6 months before his death.

In the 911 audio recording, the child’s mother and the boy’s stepfather can be heard hurling verbal abuse at the child.

The parents were unaware that the 911 dispatcher was listening and recording the exchange.

The verbal abuse began after the child accidentally spilled food on the ground.

Following is what the stepfather told nine-year-old child:

“I swear, I’m going to have a nervous fucking breakdown … Mainly because of this little shit head right here. … You make everybody sick around you, Omaree! Everybody!”

As the 911 dispatcher traces the call to the home, Omaree’s parents can be heard telling the boy to stop crying over bruises he has by saying:

“You just want attention, right? … Right?” his mother shouts.

The hostile abuse continues as the step father threatens to beat the boy and says that the child’s own brother can’t stand him.

The child cries out for his stepfather to stop.

“And you want me to be your dad? Fuck you! I ain’t gonna be shit to you. Don’t you even fucking look at me as your dad.”

According to then APD Chief Allen Banks, two APD officers went out to the residence after the child’s 911 call and made several errors that day that may have led to the child’s eventual death.

The 911 dispatcher told the APD officers that they should listen to the phone call before going to the home.

APD officers never went to the child’s home.

According to police logs, the officers claimed they questioned the parents for two hours.

Their lapel camera showed that the officers were there for only 15 minutes.

The APD Officers did not write a report in the case with one officer saying he would call the state’s Children Youth and Family Department.

No call to CYFD was ever made by either APD Officer.

After arriving to the child’s home to investigate the 911 call, one of the officer’s belt tape has him telling the parents:

“You guys seem like a good family. … A decent family. Just be careful what you guys say when you say stuff like that. I am going to overlook it right now.”

Six months later, Omaree Varela was dead.

The Omaree had been stomped and beaten to death by his parent.

The autopsy report detailed the child’s injuries.

The autopsy report said Omaree had lost about 25 percent of his blood volume through internal bleeding.

TEN-YEAR-OLD VICTORIA MARTENS

On August 24, 2016, in one of the most brutal murders seen in Albuquerque’s history, APD found the dead body of ten-year-old Victoria Martens in an Albuquerque apartment.

The APD Officers were responding to a 911 call for a “domestic” dispute.

The APD officers discovered 10-year-old Victoria Martens’ dismembered body partially wrapped in a burning blanket in her mother’s apartment.

The child’s mother, her boyfriend and the cousin of the boyfriend were arrested at the scene by APD.

All three defendants were arrested and charged with first degree murder, child abuse resulting in great bodily harm and death, kidnapping, tampering with evidence and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

All three defendants are in custody being held without bond and are awaiting trial.

According to the search warrants obtained by one media outlet, the mother told detectives that she had arranged for at least two other men to have sex with her daughter and “possibly the other minor child who resides at the residence.”

http://www.koat.com/article/new-disturbing-details-revealed-in-victoria-martens-case/5268319

According to the news report, the mother told police she would contact men using the internet websites.

The warrant obtained by the news agency revisited the events of the night 10-year-old Victoria was killed.

The child was held down and given meth, to make her relax, so that the mother’s boyfriend could rape the child while the mother watched for her own “sexual gratification.”

The mother is reported to have continued to watch as the boyfriend strangled the child and the other defendant stabbed the child.

According to a separate search warrant, one of the defendants admitted to detectives that he had sexual intercourse with the child “shortly after the child was deceased.”

On August 4, 2017 the Albuquerque Journal reported that an investigation by the Civilian Police Oversight Agency (CPOA) found that a spokesperson for APD “did lie” to the newspaper about the police department’s response to a CYFD referral concerning Victoria Martens prior to her death.

In late January 2017, two police spokespersons told the Albuquerque Journal that officers did investigate the referrals and stated that interviews with Victoria Martens and her mother had been conducted.

The APD spoke persons lied in that and there were no interviews of the child nor of her mother.

CONCLUSION

Albuquerque and New Mexico must find solutions to what contributes to or cause our most horrific crimes: domestic violence, substance abuse, children living in severe poverty, a poor education system, the breakdown of the family unit, the failures of our social services and child protective services, a failed mental health system, an ineffective criminal justice system, a failing economy.

Our children’s lives depend upon it.

“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea”.
Mark 9:42

Jesus said: “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
— Matthew 19:13-14

The Albuquerque Police Department (APD) has released three (3) lapel videos and recordings of 911 calls of APD officers responding to a hotel and elementary school in November to check on the 7-year-old child who the Attorney General’s Office has since said was sex trafficked by her relatives.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1173671/lapel-videos-released-from-apds-interactions-with-7-year-old-girl-teacher.html

It is the November 14, 2017 lapel camera video of the APD Officer talking to the child’s teacher and Children Youth and Families Department (CYFD) investigator that is so very damaging and at the same time heartbreaking.

The video at best reflects a hapless police department and a hapless CYFD department and at worst negligent training on APD standard operating procedures.

In the video, the teacher describes how she took the child to a bathroom located in the classroom to have her cleaned up and provide the child with clean clothing.

The teacher tells the APD Officer and the CYFD investigator she was “gagging because it smelled of feces and of urine”.

When the teacher took the child’s clothing and went to put it in a bag, she discovered the child’s underwear had caked blood on it with dried feces.

The teacher told the officers that the blood was not at all normal for a child of 7 who was not old enough to be menstruating.

The teacher told the police officer and well as the CYFD investigator it was not the first time she had to give the 7-year-old child clean cloths and it was an ongoing problem, all which is evidence of child neglect.

The teacher leaves the bag of the child’s clothing in the secure classroom bathroom and leaves the classroom.

After the officers finish talking to the teacher, the APD Officer and the CYFD investigator have a discussion on what to do with the child’s clothing collected by the teacher.

The APD officer actually asks the question “Do you think it is a good idea to collect them?”

The CYFD investigator then tells the officer “That’s up to you guys. That ain’t my department.”

The APD officer tries to call the Crimes Against Children Unit to get guidance on what to do with the clothing and apparently never got a response.

The fact that a trained APD officer could not decide to take the blood stained underwear of a 7 year old child secured by a teacher who was trying to report child abuse and tag it into evidence is absolutely astonishing and heartbreaking.

There should have been absolutely no uncertainty about what to do with the girl’s blood-stained underwear, which was to take it and tag it into evidence.

STAND BY YOUR MAN

It is tragic to see Mayor Tim Keller standing by Interim Chief Michael Geier’s and APD’s claims that APD could not have taken blood-stained underwear as evidence in the abuse of a 7-year-old child.

http://www.koat.com/article/mayor-defends-apds-handling-of-evidence-in-abuse-case/20737601

Both Mayor Keller and the Interim Chief Geier are saying that no one violated any policies or procedures, including when an APD officer tossed out the blood-stained underwear of an innocent 7-year-old child rather than tagging it into evidence.

APD Interim Chief Michael Geier has also told media outlets that officers and detectives did everything they could with the information they had at the time.

Mayor Keller and Interim Chief Geier saying APD did everything they could with the information they had rings extremely hollow when you’re dealing with a seven-year-old child and a teacher trying to do the right thing by reporting potential child abuse.

When both the Mayor and Chief say that that no one violated any policies or procedures, they are simply very wrong.

Mayor Keller showed an obvious ignorance of the law and when he used a clever law enforcement catch phrase and said:

“There are rules of what you can take, there are laws against what you can take. … This is one of things we’re proactively doing is revisiting our evidence collection policies and we want to get as far to ‘bag it and tag it’ as we can under the law.”

Mayor Keller needs to stop trying to talk like a cop or at the very least try to understand the law of evidence.

The officer would not have violated the Fourth Amendment against unreasonable search and seizure had he collected it and tagged it into evidence.

CHILD’S CLOTHING AND PHYSICAL CONDITION HAD EVIDENTIARY VALUE

During my career as Bernalillo County Assistant District Attorney, I prosecuted child abuse cases.

Thirty-five years ago, I did a grand jury investigation of the mishandling of child abuse cases by the state.

To this day I can recall too many details of those crimes and the people I prosecuted.

Study after study show that children from lower economic homes have a higher risk to suffer severe physical abuse and sexual abuse from their parents.

The seven-year-old child’s underwear had evidentiary value.

All too often, DNA evidence found in blood and a victim’s testimony are the only evidence available to obtain a conviction for rape and child sexual abuse.

Any forensic testing results of bodily fluids such as blood and seaman would probably be enough to sustain a conviction for child rape and abuse.

DNA evidence found on underwear is the very type of evidence used to identify and convict rapists and child molesters.

The fact that the child’s underwear was thrown away means that no one will ever know if the blood on the child’s underwear was her blood, the defendant’s blood, or blood from others.

Throwing the evidence in the trash means no one will know what other bodily fluids from others was on the underwear.

APD STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES

The police offense report mentions the bloodstained underwear.

If the blood stain underwear merited mentioning in the written offense report, the cop had the obligation to take it from the child’s teacher and tagged it into evidence for further examination by APD’s forensic lab.

The lapel camera videos revealed that the teacher reported the child went to school unkempt and smelling of urine.

When the teacher helped the child change into clean clothes, the teacher saw the child had dried, caked blood on the crotch of her underwear.

The teacher took all the child’s clothing, bagged it, and saved it for police.

The teacher testified when the police officer came to the school the following day, the APD officer said they could not use the underwear as evidence and she claimed the cop threw the clothing in the trash.

She said the APD officer told her the underwear had not been kept in a secure location.

The police officer also said to the teacher “they’re going to have a field day if this ever went to court.”

A police officer telling a potential witness in a case “they’re going to have a field day if this ever went to court” and then “tossing evidence” is totally inappropriate.

It is a judge and not a cop that decides if tagged evidence is admitted as evidence in a court of law.

There was a violation of standard operating procedure of not tagging into evidence an item given to an officer by a witness to a crime.

The requirement of keeping evidence in a “extreme-secure location” applies only to evidence collected by law enforcement to ensure “chain of custody”.

There is no such requirement of “extreme-secure location” placed on victims or witnesses to crimes who turn over evidence to law enforcement, which is what the teacher was doing with the child’s blood-stained underwear.

The policies and procedures for the taking and tagging of evidence are clear from reading APD’s standard operating procedure.

CONCLUSION

Mayor Keller declared the investigation is not over and said:

“If we find protocol was violated, where they did any procedure was wrong, we will absolutely hold them accountable. … If there is nothing that an officer did wrong, I’m not going to discipline them just because people are angry.”

Mayor Keller with his words and actions is showing a blind loyalty to a Chief of Police who probably knows better when it comes to the law and the department’s standard operating procedures.

This is the identical song and dance we got from former Mayor Richard Berry and former Chief Gordon Eden, which is support your chief and police no matter what they do or say and believe whatever your chief and APD tells you that is allowed under the law.

There are 6 Democrats running for the First Congressional District being vacated by Congresswoman Michelle Lujan Grisham and they are:

Albuquerque City Councilor Pat Davis
Former Democratic Party Chair Debra Haaland
Former UNM Law School Associate Dean Antonette Sedillo Lopez
Immigration and tax attorney Damian Lara
Former United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico Damon Martinez
Albuquerque businessman Paul Moya

PUBLIC POLICY POLL (PPP)

A poll was conducted the weekend of Friday, April 13, 2018 to Sunday, April 15, 2018 and consisted of contacting 508 registered democrats with the poll having a margin of error of 4.4%.

It was Pat Davis that commissioned an “auto-phone” opinion poll with Public Policy Poll (PPP) with the link to the full poll here:

https://www.scribd.com/document/377327356/New-Mexico-1-Results

According to the poll, Debra Haaland and Antoinette Sedillo Lopez were tied with 15%.

Pat Davis polled at 11% and Damon Martinez polled at 7%.

Paul Moya and Damian Lara polled in single digits at 4% each.

43% of those polled in mid-April were undecided.

Since the mid April poll, the three candidates that have spent the most money on television advertising have gone up in the polls and the race is now too close to call between the top three, with one candidate having the clear momentum.

VOTEVETS POLL

A poll commissioned by VoteVets was conducted on May 13 and 14 by Lake Research in Washington, DC.

The firm that did the poll has been around for some time and has a good track record.

The organization that commissioned the poll is promoting Damon Martinez.

Notwithstanding who paid for the poll, it should be considered highly reliable.

The poll was of 390 “likely” Democratic voters and the poll used professional phone interviews as opposed to the “auto-phone” poll conducted by PPP and commissioned by Pat Davis.

Professional phone interview polls are considered more reliable and far more expensive than “robo-call” polls.

The poll shows an extremely tight race between three candidates with “undecided” voters still winning.

The margin of error for the poll was 5%.

The poll found that Antoinette Sedillo Lopez came in first with 25%, Damon Martinez came in a close second 23% and Deb Haaland came in with 20%.

27% of those polled said they were still undecided.

Pat Davis, Damian Laura and Paul Moya each garnered only 5 percent of the vote.

ANALYSIS

It is clear comparing the two polls that the media expenditures by the three top candidates have had a major impact on the race.

Damon Martinez appears to be the one that has had the best return on his investment and now has significant momentum.

Damon Martinez in the PPP poll was a distant fourth with 7% and now he is a close second in the Vote-Vets commissioned poll with 23%, more than three times his original PPP poll number.

Martinez has improved his poll standing by an impressive 15% in just one months time.

In the PPP poll Debra Haaland and Antoinette Sedillo Lopez were tied each with 15% and have spent significant amounts of money on media.

Sedillo Lopez improved her poll numbers by 10% and Haaland improved her poll numbers by 9%.

The one candidate that has had the biggest set back is Pat Davis who dropped by 6% despite his use of vulgar language in a TV commercial to attack the National Rifle Association.

Both polls also reflect that Debra Halaand and Antonette Sedillo Lopez are splitting the more progressive and woman’s vote and that Damon Martinez is benefitting from that.

Notwithstanding the polls, there are still three weeks left before the primary, and at this point it is more likely than not that either Damon Martinez, Antoinette Sedillo Lopez or Debora Haaland will be the Democratic nominee.

It is being reported that Mayor Tim Keller and APD Chief Michael Geier are defending the actions of the Albuquerque Police Department and its interactions with the 7-year-old child who the Attorney General’s Office says was being trafficked for prostitution by her relatives.

Both Mayor Keller and the Interim Chief are saying that no one violated any policies or procedures, including an instance where an APD officer tossed out the blood-stained underwear of a 7 year old rather than tagging it into evidence.

APD Interim Chief Michael Geier told media outlets that officers and detectives did everything they could with the information they had at the time.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1172987/mayor-apd-defend-officer-say-underwear-not-enough-to-warrant-crime-investigation.html

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/albuquerque-police-apd-child-abuse-case-james-stewart-teri-sanchez/4911125/?cat=500

Geier repeatedly said that the blood-stained underwear by itself was not a strong enough reason to cause further investigation beyond what the officer did that day.

Mayor Tim Keller parroted the Chief’s position when he said:

“Based on information they had at the time we have no reason to believe protocol wasn’t followed and procedure wasn’t followed.”

Mayor Keller’s comments were in conflict to what he told Action 7 News that he be believed error were made when it came to officer’s interactions with Terri Sanchez, James Stewart and their children, failing to mention the interactions the police officer had with the reporting teacher, when he said:

“You’ve got to acknowledge what actually happened and based on that, we had to have done things differently. We should have done things differently and that is definitely the case.”

http://www.koat.com/article/mayor-we-should-have-done-more-and-we-should-have-done-things-differently/20712312

THERE WAS MORE EVIDENCE THAN JUST THE CLOTHING

Interim Chief Geier says that the blood-stained underwear by itself was not a strong enough reason to cause further investigation, which is simply not the case.

Interim Chief Geier saying APD did everything they could with the information they had at the time rings very hollow when you’re dealing with a seven-year-old child and a teacher trying to do the right thing.

Interim Chief Geier ignores the other evidence the officer was told by the teacher indicating child abuse or neglect, including the child going to school unkempt and smelling of urine, which are classic signs of child neglect.

When both the Mayor and Chief say that that no one violated any policies or procedures, they are ignoring the fact that the police officer in the police offense report mentions the bloodstained underwear but did not say what happened to it nor does the report mention why it was thrown in the trash.

If the blood stain underwear merited mentioning in the written offense report, it should have been taken from the child’s teacher and tagged into evidence for further examination by APD’s forensic lab.

During the three-day detention hearing for defendants James Stewart and Teri Sanchez it was revealed by a teacher that on November 14, 2017, the child went to school unkempt and smelling of urine.

http://www.koat.com/article/mayor-we-should-have-done-more-and-we-should-have-done-things-differently/20712312

When the teacher helped the child change into clean clothes, the teacher saw the child had blood on the crotch of her underwear.

The teacher removed the underwear from the 7-year-old student and saved it for investigators.

The teacher testified when the police officer came to the school the following day, the APD officer said they could not use the underwear as evidence and threw the clothing in the trash.

She said the APD officer told her the underwear had not been kept in a secure location and that the police office said, “they’re going to have a field day if this ever went to court.”

A police officer telling a potential witness in a case “they’re going to have a field day if this ever went to court” and then “tossing evidence” is totally inappropriate.

The requirement of keeping evidence in a “extreme-secure location” applies only to evidence collected by law enforcement to ensure “chain of custody”.

There is no such requirement of “extreme-secure location” placed on victims or witnesses to crimes who turn over evidence to law enforcement, which is what the teacher was doing with the child’s blood-stained underwear.

The policies and procedures for the taking and tagging of evidence are clear from reading APD’s standard operating procedure.

http://documents.cabq.gov/police/standard-operating-procedures/2-73-submission-of-evidence-cofiscated-property-and-found-items.pdf

CONCLUSION

During my career as Bernalillo County Assistant District Attorney, I prosecuted child abuse cases and because of the emotional toll it took on me, I decided to move on and go into the private practice of law.

Thirty five years ago, I did a grand jury investigation of the mishandling of child abuse cases by a state agency, and to this day I can recall too many details of those crimes and the people I prosecuted.

Since 2001, in New Mexico, no less than 22 children, ranging from ages of 5 weeks old to 3, 4, 5 months old to 3, 4, 5, and 11 years old, have been killed as a result of child physical and sexual abuse.

(Re: August 31, 2016 Albuquerque Journal Editorial Guest column by Allen Sanchez.)

Study after study has shown that children from lower economic homes have a higher risk to suffer severe physical abuse and sexual abuse from their parents.

After 35 years, I still can remember the specifics of many of the cases I prosecuted.

All too often, DNA evidence found in blood and a victim’s testimony are the only evidence available to obtain a conviction for rape and child sexual abuse.

Any forensic testing results of bodily fluids such as blood and seaman would probably be enough to sustain a conviction for child rape and abuse.

DNA evidence found in rape kits is the type of evidence used to identify and convict rapists and child molesters.

The problem is, the fact that the child’s underwear was thrown away means that no one will ever know if the blood on the child’s underwear was her blood or of either defendants.

What will be unconscionable is if the offenders are not brought to justice all because a police officer failed to understand APD standard operating procedures, declined to take evidence from a victim and a witness in a case and unilaterally made the decision to trash the evidence.

A Mayor and a Chief trying to act transparent before an Internal Affairs Investigation is completed does not help much.

A three-day detention hearing was held for James Stewart and Teri Sanchez who have been charged with the heinous crime of prostituting a seven-year-old child.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1172440/pair-in-child-prostitution-case-to-remain-in-jail.html

One witnessed testified the child has been diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome and has an extremely low IQ.

James Stewart is charged with human trafficking, promoting prostitution, criminal sexual contact of a minor and other crimes.

Teri Sanchez is charged with child abuse and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

THE COURT MADE THE RIGHT DECISION NOT TO RELEASE

In denying the release of the two defendant, State District Judge Alisa Hart recited a list of allegations recounted by witnesses during the hearing including:

1. A teacher said the 7-year-old girl came to school in bloodstained underwear, and another school staff member said she had hickeys on her neck and chest.
2. Teri Sanchez was alleged to have hit the child in the face, used her to panhandle and dressed her up for “secret parties with strippers”
3. James Stewart was alleged to have forced the child to “touch his friends in a sexual manner in exchange for drugs and paraphernalia,” and touched her in a way that made her uncomfortable.

What is amazing is that a public safety assessments report prepared for Judge Alisa Hart recommended that both defendants be released with the assessments based largely on past convictions and pending criminal cases.

In the case of Teri Sanchez’s, it was recommended that she be released with no conditions.

In the case of James Stewart, it was recommended he be released with medium-level court-ordered supervision.

State District Judge Hart totally disagreed and rejected the recommendation to release and said:

“The alleged offenses against James Stewart are so morally reprehensible it brings into question defendant Stewart’s willingness or capability to follow the most basic mores. … It’s my belief that Mr. Stewart controls Ms. Sanchez … and if she is released and he is detained, I still believe that he will have control over her, he will have a means to gain access and influence over the children.”

Among the reasons Judge Alisa Hart listed for ruling that Sanchez must stay in custody is that she also felt that defendant Teri Sanchez was diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome and has an extremely low IQ, between 65 and 68, making all the more likely he will have control over the co-defendant.

State District Judge Alisa Hart must be commended for her decision in denying the release of both defendants and that they be held until time of trial.

There is no doubt that Judge Alisa Hart is one of the better State District Court Judges on the bench and is a credit to the Judiciary upholding the highest of judicial standards of fairness and impartiality.

WHAT WAS THE COP THINKING?

During the three-day detention hearing for James Stewart and Teri Sanchez it was revealed by a teacher that on an November 14, 2017, the child went to school unkempt and smelling of urine.

http://www.koat.com/article/mayor-we-should-have-done-more-and-we-should-have-done-things-differently/20712312

When the teacher helped the child change into clean clothes, the teacher saw the child had blood on the crotch of her underwear.

The teacher removed the underwear from the 7-year-old student and saved it for investigators.

During the detention hearing, the teacher testified when a police officer came to the school the following day, the APD officer said they could not use the underwear as evidence and threw the clothing in the dumpster.

She said the officer told her the underwear had not been kept in a secure location and that the police office said “they’re going to have a field day if this ever went to court.”

What is very disturbing is that in the police offense report, the APD officer actually mentions the bloodstained underwear but did not say what happened to it nor does the report mention why it was thrown in the trash.

The teacher saying that the underwear was potential evidence shows that the teacher knows more about the law and the “rules of evidence” than the cop did just by using her common sense.

All too often, DNA evidence found in blood and a victim’s testimony are the only evidence available to obtain a conviction for rape and child sexual abuse.

DNA evidence found in rape kits is the type of evidence used to identify and convict rapists, especially serial rapists.

The problem is, the fact that the child’s underwear was thrown away means that no one will ever know if the blood on the child’s underwear was her blood or the blood of either defendants.

Any forensic testing results of bodily fluids such as blood and seaman would probably be enough to sustain a conviction for child rape and abuse.

APD STANDARD OPRATING PROCEDURES

When the cop said of the underwear “I can’t take them because they weren’t in an extreme — secure location” it is apparent the officer did not understand, know or realize he had no business discarding the evidence and acting like a judge.

The police officer should have taken the evidence and tagged it into evidence.

The requirement of keeping evidence in a “extreme-secure location” applies to evidence collected by law enforcement to ensure “chain of custody”.

There is no such requirement placed on victims or witnesses to crimes who turn over evidence to law enforcement, which is what the teacher was doing with the child’s blood-stained underwear.

The process for tagging evidence is clear from reading APD’s standard operating procedure.

APD’s Standard Operating Procedures provide in part as follows:

“2-73 SUBMISSION OF EVIDENCE, CONFISCATED PROPERTY, AND FOUND ITEMS 2-73-1
…
2.73.2 Rules

A. … Officers will tag all found, safekeeping and evidence items using the Officer Input Module (OIM) evidence accounting tracking system. A supervisor’s signature and completed log sheet is required to authorize the use of hard copy evidence tags for exigent/unusual circumstances like OIM system outages.

B. Items to be Tagged

1. …

2. All articles of evidence, safekeeping, and found items will be tagged/entered into evidence using OIM and submitted to the Evidence Unit and deposited in substation drop boxes by the end of the officer’s tour of duty. Only a supervisor due to exigent or unusual circumstances can authorize exceptions to this; however, the evidence must be placed in a secure setting within a police building such as a safe or a locker or cabinet that can be secured under the direct control of the supervisor. Also, the tagging officer will seal all evidence tagged either in plastic or paper bags. The officer will ensure that sealed evidence bag has the officer’s initials and date across the seal, using a permanent type marker, before placing the evidence in a locker. Failure to place initials and date across the seal will result in rejection of the evidence. Large items that cannot be placed in bags will have the evidence tag affixed to them. The officer will ensure that sealed evidence bag has the officer’s initials and date across the seal, using a permanent type marker, before placing the evidence in a locker. Failure to place initials and date across the seal will result in rejection of the evidence.

http://documents.cabq.gov/police/standard-operating-procedures/2-73-submission-of-evidence-cofiscated-property-and-found-items.pdf

CONCLUSION

What happened with the physical evidence in this case makes one wonder what the hell are they teaching at the APD police academy when it comes to standard operating procedure policy.

The teacher knew more about the law of evidence using her common sense than the cop who investigated the case and wrote the report.

It was bad enough that an innocent seven-year-old child was victimized and perhaps raped.

What will be unconscionable is if the offenders are not brought to justice all because a police officer failed to understand APD standard operating procedures, declined to take evidence from a victim and a witness in a case and unilaterally made the decision to trash the evidence.

Mayor Tim Keller is approaching being in office a full six months and gave a speech that was billed as a “first six months update” speech.

I could not help but burst out laughing when I read what Mayor Tim Keller had to say in the speech before the monthly luncheon of the National Association of Industrial Office Parks (NAIOP) which is held at the Albuquerque Marriott every month.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1172116/keller-puts-out-call-for-volunteers.html

It was not as much as what he said that made me laugh, but who he was saying it to.

NAIOP’s membership is considered by many elected politicians as the “heavy hitters” in Albuquerque’s commercial development industry, construction industry and the real estate community and a source of major campaign contributions.

NAIOP and many of its membership are known to donate to the candidates for Mayor and City Council and the organization even sponsors candidate forums.

Many of NAIOPs members are also big promoters of all things Republican and the Republican Agenda and Republican candidates for office.

NAIOP or many of its membership have supported “right to work” legislation, opposed increasing the minimum wage, opposed the mandatory sick leave initiative, strongly opposes city government regulations and zoning regulations and are decidedly “anti union” when it comes to construction contracts and being required to pay “union wage” rates in any shape or form.

Many of the NAIOP membership also supported the ABC-Z comprehensive zoning plan which will have long term impact on our neighborhoods and favors developers.

The enactment of the comprehensive plan was a major priority of Republican Mayor Berry and the development community pushed hard for its enactment before Berry left office and no doubt the NAIOP rejoiced in the enactment the ABC-Z comprehensive plan.

The ABC-Z project rewrite was nothing more than making “gentrification” an official city policy and the “gutting” of long standing sector development plans by the development community to repeal those sector development plans designed to protect neighborhoods and their character.

NAIOP and it membership were staunch supporters of the previous Republican Berry Administration when it came to the disastrous $132 million ART Bus Project.

Many members of NAIOP, including developers, contractors and architects, benefited directly from the ART Bus project as well as many other construction contracts handed out over the last eight years by the Berry Administration.

WHAT MAYOR KELLER TOLD NAIOP

Not at all surprising is that Mayor Keller in his speech said that crime, homelessness and our very weak economy are Albuquerque’s biggest challenges.

Keller told the group the solutions to Albuquerque’s problems must include city residents and not government alone when he said:

“As I’m sure it’s not lost on anyone in this room, or certainly myself, there’s no way a singular leader or politician can do this on their own. … I believe in the upcoming years, we must look to ourselves for our own solutions. … We must try and hit the target instead of looking for other silver bullets. To do this, we have to come together as one Albuquerque.”

Mayor Keller encouraged local businesses to submit bids for city services by saying:

“Some of those contracts are readily available. … There’s the city’s coffee contract. There’s the city’s business card contract. The amazing thing is either people don’t know about them or the procurement process is too long. You name the reason – we’re going to work on all of those reasons and make sure they’re not a barrier anymore.”

Mayor Keller said his administration would also be reaching out soon to establish what he called a “massive volunteer program” that will have at least 4,000 volunteers that could easily double and went on to say:

“This is going to be a way to take folks who want to help the city in any way possible. … It could be filing paperwork. It could be working at one of our community centers. It could be to help facilitate some of our permitting process. It could be testing out some of the new applications on cellphones that almost nobody is using right now. … If we can come together as a city, we can reach our full potential. … It means setting our differences aside or aiming them at the particular government entity that’s causing them.”

It is when I read that Mayor Tim Keller challenged NAIOP and its membership to volunteer and come up with initiatives to help his administration’s efforts to cure the ills that beset the city that I burst out laughing knowing how many of it members donated to either Republicans Dan Lewis or Wayne Johnson who both ran against Mayor Keller.

COMMNETARY

NAIOP has never been considered a major source or a wealth of volunteerism for the city, and it never will be seeing as they do not do anything for free in their respective industries.

Profit margins is what motivates the sure existence of NAIOP and its members.

NAIOP membership is interested in bidding upon multi-million dollar city construction contracts and not the city’s coffee contract nor the city’s business card contract.

If anything, NAIOP is always looking for the “silver bullet” to solve economic development problems for its membership in that many of its membership are the very first in line to bid on city construction projects and get behind zoning changes that are detrimental to neighborhoods and to enhance developments.

NAIOP has an extensive history of being extremely critical of the city’s zoning laws, enforcement actions and regulations especially the permitting and inspection processes required by the city’s building codes.

Challenging the NAIOP membership to “volunteer and come up with in initiatives to help his administration” is somewhat embarrassing seeing as NAIOP will in all likely oppose any progressive agenda Mayor Keller wants to implement, especially when it comes to increasing the minimum wage or mandatory sick leave.

The Mayor’s call for an army of 4,000 volunteers, let alone doubling that number to 8,000 is looking through rose-colored glasses Mayor Keller no doubt found left in his office by his predecessor.

No one has time to volunteer to do anything for free for the city when you cannot make a living and perhaps holding down two jobs to make ends meet.

CONCLUSION

Mayor Tim Keller was swept into office with a 62% vote landslide giving him a mandate for change.

High crime rates, public safety, the Albuquerque Police Department, the Department of Justice reforms, the economy and increasing taxes were the biggest issues debated in the 2017 Mayor’s race.

The tone and direction the Keller Administration has taken in the last six months does not represent visionary change and frankly not much of change at all, especially when it comes to economic development.

Talking to groups like the Chamber of Commerce, the Economic Forum and NAIOP is not going to help much given that they have been part of our problem for so many years void of any vision or leadership and more concerned about protecting their own self interests.

The trajectory indications from the last six months period from Mayor Keller being in office is that Albuquerque is set to have another uninspiring four years from a Mayor filled with extensive photo ops, ribbon cuttings and talking to business organizations in the hopes of getting their support.

I totally agree when Mayor Keller say’s “there’s no way a singular leader or politician can do this on their own”, but no one is asking Mayor Keller to do it on his own.

Putting out a call for “volunteers” rings hollow given all the problems the city is facing.

What voters are asking for is leadership, inspiration and solutions, which is why so many people voted for Tim Keller for Mayor and will be very disappointed when he fails to deliver.