2nd Judicial District Attorney

DA will not retry officers in Boyd shooting

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Bernalillo County District Attorney Raul Torrez announced Friday afternoon his office would not reopen the case against former Albuquerque Police Department  officers Dominique Perez and Keith Sandy. The announcement came almost three months after Torrez took office and two months after he announced a special task force of prosecutors would review the case. In a press conference Torrez said both the task force and two attorneys from his office came to the same conclusion—that there was no evidence to show that a new trial would result in a new outcome. “There is no reason to believe the case against officers Sandy and Perez could be tried better or more exhaustively at a second trial or that a second jury could reach a different outcome than the first,” Torrez told reporters. The decision to not prosecute signals the end to a nearly-two year legal battle.

New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy Board

Law enforcement board to review how shootings by police officers are investigated

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Attorney General Hector Balderas, who also chairs the New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy Board, appointed a group to look into the policies and procedures behind investigations into shootings by police officers and use of force incidents in the state. The announcement of the review by a new subcommittee of the board came hours before a mistrial in South Carolina, where police officer shot Michael Slager shot Walter Scott, a black man, in the back as Scott ran away. Scott died. The April 4, 2015 incident was caught on video and quickly made news around the country after it happened. “Officer-involved shootings can have devastating consequences for both the civilian and law enforcement communities,” Balderas said in a statement.

Albuquerque Newsdesk

City to pay Boyd family $5 million

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The city of Albuquerque is in for a hefty bill to pay for the wrongful death of a homeless man police killed in 2014. Last Friday, attorneys for the family of James Boyd announced that the city agreed to a settlement payment of $5 million in a wrongful death lawsuit. In March 2014, police surrounded and shot Boyd, an unarmed homeless man who had been camping illegally in the Sandia foothills. A video of the shooting went viral, leading to several protests in Albuquerque and plenty of national media coverage. Still, Albuquerque Police Department Chief Gorden Eden’s initially responded that the shooting was justified.