All citizens of New Mexico owe a debt of gratitude to Governor Michelle Lujan Gresham for her doubly unconstitutional executive order banning open and concealed carry of firearms in public places in Albuquerque for 30 days. Because her “emergency public health order” violated the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, a federal court struck down the order in the state’s equivalent of a New York minute. It also violated New Mexico’s constitution protecting open carry. The reason for gratitude is the clarity with which her actions show contempt for adherence to law at the highest levels of state government, which contempt trickles down to other state officials in her administration, the legislature, and the courts.
I am not going to itemize the many various outrages of this executive order; others have done a fine job of detailing them, with justifiable outrage. I shall add only that her ill-conceived order is more than a sign of frustration or sympathy with the casualties, both the dead and their families. It indicates that she has no ideas about how to address the problem of gun violence and believes that no one else has any either. Of course, the Albuquerque police department compounds the problem because it has no idea, desire, or determination to address the problem of gun violence by its officers.
Instead, I am going to note only this new western variant of the old southern doctrines of state interposition and nullification. Like Gov. Orville Faubus (Arkansas) and Gov. George Wallace (Alabama), among other notorious state governors, Gov. Michelle Gresham has, in effect, adopted these doctrines. Whereas they embraced them in a broad campaign to protect the “southern way of life”—their byword was “never” to integration—, she resorted to them to reduce the number of fatal shootings in one city for one month. She thus lowered the bar for officials to ignore, repudiate, or defy state and federal constitutions and the rule of law in New Mexico.
Gov. Gresham’s breach of the state and federal constitutions which she has twice sworn to uphold is but another instance of abrogation of oath and dereliction of duty by elected state officials in or associated with the legal community. One notorious example is the conduct of the state’s Attorney General, Raúl Torrez, whose political ambitions—governor? senator?—override his obligation to perform his assigned duties and to communicate truthfully with the public. Political oratory substitutes for performance.
Consider AG Torrez’s recent public statement on police killings. In Searchlight New Mexico (14 Sep),
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said he wants the state legislature to fund permanent investigators and prosecutors who can probe police shootings statewide. Torrez, who previously served as the Bernalillo County District Attorney, said the state needs a review process that “eliminates concerns over potential conflicts of interest” while “promoting public confidence in the criminal justice system.
The juxtaposition of this statement and the defunct status of his investigation meant to cover up Officer Jared Gosper’s murder of Sra. Amelia Baca shows both his dereliction of duty, his participation in a law enforcement conspiracy to prevent prosecution of a police officer—AG Torrez really is an accessory after the fact—, and his hypocrisy. Probe, yes; prosecute, no.
The truth of the matter is, as the SNM article details, New Mexico seldom charges, rarely prosecutes, and never convicts a police officer of murder. AG Torrez, with his eye on higher office, has deliberately avoided doing his duty to avoid reducing his chances. He knows that charging Officer Gosper with manslaughter or murder will cost him the votes on one side or the other depending on their views of the police. He calculates that he can omit his duty, keep everything quiet and hopefully forgotten, but deny IPRA requests on the spurious grounds that the investigation is on-going. His claim is an obvious lie. As I have written in another blog, nothing remains to be investigated after a long-ago murder occurring on 16 April 2022. As he sets his ambitions above the performance of his duties in public office now, so he will then set his interests above the public’s interests in another office then. The last man worthy of election to higher office is this liar, hypocrite, and malingerer, and accessory to murder.
This indifference to or disdain for the rule of law is not confined to the executive branch of New Mexico’s government. It extends to the legislature, where it combines with discourtesy toward and contempt for citizens concerned with the law. On 5 May, I emailed a letter to all NM legislators on the status of the Baca murder case and attached the unedited body-cam footage. One legislator responded, but only to replace discarded footage. On 16 August, I emailed an open letter (see below) to Senator Joseph Cervantes and Representative Christine Chandler, chairs of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees, respectively. Neither had the courtesy nor felt the obligation to respond. Apparently, they thought that inquiries about this continuing miscarriage of justice was not worth the political risks of offending law enforcement and legal communities.
FLASH: Third Judicial District Senior Judge Robert Brack has found Officer Cosper’s shooting “constitutional.” Judge Brack failed the law by failing to match the two legal tests of reasonable use of force to the circumstances. His failures mean two things. One, he has given police officers a year-round, open-season license to use excessive force at their discretion and regardless of circumstances on civilians. Two, he spares AG Torrez from deciding whether to charge Officer Cosper. AG Torrez can now ignore the relevant circumstances known to the investigation and not satisfying the two legal tests; he can claim that Judge Brack’s decision renders his office’s investigation superfluous. Police officers know that they can get away with anything up to and including murder.
I exclude the Supreme Court only because I have had no direct experience with it. However, its corrupt bias to protect lawyers and its contempt for citizens with complaints about lawyers appears in the response of its Disciplinary Board, particularly its Office of Disciplinary Counsel to my 100-plus-page complaint about the misconduct of then and since fired Las Vegas City Attorney Jennifer Vega-Brown. It rejected my complaint in less than three weeks. Deputy Director Christine Long wrote that my documentation was insufficient. Her opening paragraph may arouse doubts that anyone read my complaint:
The Office of Disciplinary Counsel has investigated your complaint against the above-named attorney [Vega-Brown] but has found insufficient evidence to support allegations that Ms. Hays [emphasis added] has violated the Rules of Professional Conduct. For that reason, the Board will be taking no further action.
This complaint came at the end of my failed effort to have the law enforcement and legal communities address my complaints about non-lethal police misconduct: false allegations, denial of due process, and bias-based policing. The Office of the Attorney General ignored two formal complaints and made no reply to explain rejecting them.
Such is justice in New Mexico. The rule of law is not to ensure equality under the law, but to grant privilege to protect police officers, not citizens. At no level of government is there either transparency or accountability expected of law enforcement officers. As a result of official indifference by District Attorneys and Attorneys General, the police understand themselves to have license to do as they please. Jared Cosper’s killing of Amelia Baca is the proof; he is back on the streets.
The danger comes to every community which places unbounded confidence in police officers, whose training emphasizes seizing and securing control of situations with overwhelming force and firepower. Police officers are usually pleasant enough when they are not confronted by a challenge or a crisis. But when they are so confronted, they resort to trained responses and often become a threat to limb and life. Officer Cosper’s response, despite prior training in de-escalation and the cautionary remarks of her family, did not restrain him for one moment. He killed Sra. Amelia Baca within seconds of arriving on the scene. Now school districts have police officers stationed in schools to protect students. It is only a matter of time until a teenager does not respond as an officer expects—shows some “attitude” or gives a little lip—, and the officer overreacts. No doubt, those officials who approved such programs will decry the mental health of the victim and not the propensity and training of the police officer to react violently.
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2023-08-16
Dear Senator Joseph Cervantes and Representative Christine Chandler:
The shooting of Sra. Amelia Baca by LCPD Officer Jared Cosper on 16 April 2022 has received not only local, but also national, attention. However, no decision to charge or not charge Officer Cosper has been made in the sixteen months since her death.
All police officers and legal authorities able to charge the officer—former LCPD Chief Miguel Dominguez, Third District Attorney Gerald Byers, former New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas, and New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez—have failed to act one way or the other. By failing to act, these officials have made an exception for a vocational colleague to the principle of equality under the law.
My IPRA request to see the report sent from the local multi-agency task force to DA Byers was refused on the grounds that AG Torrez was still investigating the shooting. The claim is implausible. Officer Cosper’s body camera clearly captured the incident. Investigators interviewed Officer Cosper, other officers, family members, witnesses, and others at least once, some likely several times. It is difficult to imagine what remains to be investigated. It is easy to imagine that the evidence is convincing but uncomfortable.
I doubt that AG Torrez is conducting an investigation. I suspect that he makes the claim to avoid transparency and thereby shield officials from accountability. The claim deflects inquiries and defers action indefinitely; justice thus delayed is justice thus denied—indefinitely. Meanwhile, as the public learns nothing about the reasons which have delayed a decision, so its distrust of the police grows. Inaction shows that police can get away with anything, including killing. Indeed, Officer Cosper is out on the street. In this context and these circumstances, the conduct of these police officers and legal authorities amounts to a continuing cover-up and makes them accessories-after-the-fact.
Accordingly, I write to urge that you and your committees inquire whether the AG is conducting an investigation; if so, why is it proceeding so slowly; if not, when will he announce his decision and what has delayed an announcement. I further urge that you issue a report to the public. An explanation of the failure of police officers and legal authorities to act in this notorious case is long overdue.
I look forward to, and shall publish, your responses.
Michael L. Hays
Las Cruces
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