DA's office seeking change of venue

The district attorney’s office is seeking a change of venue on a pair of misdemeanor charges against a man who is also accusing a Clovis police officer of excessive force.

A hearing is set for 3 p.m. Thursday in Magistrate Court.

Jorge Corona, 26, faces misdemeanor counts of concealing identity and resisting arrest. He was arrested during an Aug. 3 traffic stop. During the stop, video from which has since been posted on YouTube, Corona was a passenger in a vehicle pulled over and he asked Clovis Officer Brent Aguilar why the vehicle was stopped.

Corona claims he was slammed on the pavement after he was handcuffed, and suffered a broken cheekbone.

He pleaded not guilty to both counts against him and demanded a jury trial.

No criminal charges have been filed against the officer.

Deputy District Attorney Brian Stover argued in an Oct. 7 filing that he doesn’t believe, given the exposure Corona has received online and in local media, that a fair trial can be obtained in Curry County.

“It is not necessary to establish that the jury (panel) is totally ignorant of the facts and issues involved in a case or about the subject matter, because with the mass communication available today, this would be a virtually impossible standard to meet,” Stover said in the filing. “However, it is clear that pretrial publicity, prejudicial articles, and commentaries by a random group of community members make it infeasible and uneconomical to call a jury panel in order to voir dire them directly as to their prejudices/preconceived ideas.”

Contacted Tuesday evening, Stover said when changes of venue are granted the first option is to stay within the district but move to a different county. The district serves only Curry and Roosevelt counties, but Stover said he’d have no issue trying the case in Portales.

Corona’s attorney, Dan Lindsey, disagrees, noting that a change of venue for misdemeanor charges would be taxing for him and his client, and that the district attorney’s office usually argues against venue changes on felony offenses that draw much more media exposure.

“Citizens of Curry County have always been fair, impartial jurors,” Lindsey said. “They call the facts like they see them, and this case can be tried in Curry County.”

In his filing, Stover notes the online video and includes several Clovis News Journal articles on the case, and a newspaper editorial on Aguilar’s conduct. He notes that each article has drawn numerous comments through Facebook. Althouth the comments were both critical and supportive, Stover said, “The commentary I did observe online did seem to be hostile toward the police.”

He also argues Lindsey goes beyond “mere protestations of innocence” when commenting in the articles, with references to police conduct as bullying and a declaration police have no reason to speak with Corona because he is a passenger in the vehicle.

Lindsey called the accusations baseless, noting prosecutors are no strangers to arguing a defendant’s guilt to the media.