Attorney asks for dismissal in drug sting case

PORTALES — A defense attorney fought tooth and nail Thursday to dismiss a grand jury indictment in the case of a Roosevelt County man arrested in April in a drug sting.

Evan Arendell, the attorney for 38-year-old Armando Pena, told Ninth Judicial District Court Judge Donna Mowrer his client’s due process was violated because an inaccurate statement by Roosevelt County Sheriff Malin Parker aided in the formulation of arrest warrant for Pena and others.

Arendell brought former Roosevelt County Sheriff’s Deputy Sonny Wilcox, New Mexico State Police Officer Moises Mascorro, and New Mexico Law Office of the Public Defender Senior Investigator Misti Valdez to the stand to reinforce his argument the inaccurate statement should invalidate the warrant and the subsequent charges.

In the affidavits, Parker states he met with an informant for the sheriff’s office, saying, “this informant has in the past proved to give reliable, credible information that led to the recovery of thousands of dollars in stolen property and gave information that led to two felony arrests.” Subsequent interviews revealed the imformant had not worked on prior cases with the office, and that Parker said the information did not lead to two felony arrests.

Parker was not charged in the matter, which Mascorro investigated in November.

Wilcox was present during several arrests in the sting, and was questioned about his involvement in the case. He answered that he was only involved in issuing arrest warrants for the suspects.

Valdez interviewed Parker in connection with Pena’s case in September. She read part of the transcript from Parker: “I don’t think I filed charges on any of them (suspects in the drug sting). I recovered the property, and had I filed charges, it would have burned him as an informant.”

Parker was also brought to the stand, and was asked by Arendell about the statement.

“What Miss Valdez asked me about specifically that day was (about) stolen properties, and there had been so many different ones,” Parker said, while referring to two specific people in the sting.

“Those were the cases that I was referring to when I said no felony arrests had been made. We weren’t talking about the entirety of the case.”

Boazman said the lack of charges against Parker undercut the defense’s claims.

“As of today, evidence has been presented, both by an investigating agency — the New Mexico State Police — as well as Sheriff Parker himself, that he did not act in bad faith. There were no charges filed in the investigation of perjury,” he said.

Mowrer said she would make a decision on the dismissal of the indictment by Monday.

On a civil suit against Parker, Clovis District Judge Fred Van Soelen told attorney Eric Dixon Wednesday that he has five days to amend the suit.

According to Roosevelt County Attorney Randy Knudson, the hearing was for a motion to dismiss the lawsuit that calls for Parker’s removal from office. He said the grand jury and the district attorney (if the grand jury is not sitting) has that power, not private citizens or attorneys.

Knudson said after Dixon asked the judge if he could amend the lawsuit, Van Soelen gave him five days to do so and allotted another five days for the county to respond.

Attempts to contact Dixon were unsuccessful.

Dixon filed the lawsuit in December on behalf of Pena, Cody Banister and Elsa Hernandez after Parker was investigated.

Alisa Boswell contributed to this report.