Legal Question in Criminal Law in New Mexico
Hello, I reside in N.M. and I submitted a question previously that was answered by one of the attorneys on LawGuru but now I'm further confused. My question was regarding why the District Attorney's office would pick up my case if the judge in metro court nolle prosequed it. I learned from the answer I received that the judge in fact doesn't nolle proseque a case but rather that the prosecuter does..? I thought the prosecuter was the D.A.'s office...? That's where I'm confused. My legal problem started out with a friend/co worker of 10yrs (who is no longer either of those things to me) snitching me to the authorities (mind you I figured this out on my own from reading the search warrant after I obtained a copy of it on my own). I am a personal user. Not something I'm condoning or bragging on I'm NOT a drug dealer. This person apparently turned C.I. to work off some of their own legal problems. The only reason I agreed to anything with this individual is because of the 10 yrs of so called friendship and being a co-worker at certain jobs. The buy was a one time thing and was of a very tiny amount from what I personally had. Again I am NOT a drug dealer and anything I had was very small and strictly for personal use. I was subject to the authorities raiding my home in the middle of the day. I was home as well as a relative of mine visting. The way the authorities entered my home was by breaking my window out and then busting thru the door all within seconds this tactic was supposedly what they refer to as a "knock and announce rule" this rule is the most gray area of serving a search warrant I've ever researched. I couldn't have gotten to the door at a full run if I tried my hardest before they were already inside inside and had a gun to my face. They never knocked or announced. My question(s) first off I was never shown or left any copies of the warrant or inventory (the inventory was not done in my presence). I was cuffed as my relative was and detained for over 2 hours while my home was being torn to shreds because I wasn't the drug dealer they were hoping for. They brought in some big box on wheels and went down the hall and every now and again they yelled out pictures. At the very end of this episode they came out to the room I was detained in and showed me what evidence they supposedly found and I guarantee it wasn't even mine, it was a small baggie with what appeared to be residue and a tiny amount of powdery substance in one of the corners they used that to test infront of me and they concluded it was positive for drugs. Moving along I was arrested for possession of drugs a felony off of what I just described above being the drugs and after being detained for over 2 hrs my relative was uncuffed and told she could leave. Moving further ahead after getting out of jail I had to go downtown to pay for and obtain my own copies of the warrant, inventory and affidavit none of these were given to me or left at my residence. In the search warrant it states to search my residence and outside my residence and to search me. No where did it state to search my relative or anyone who may have been there with me. As I mentioned my relative was cuffed, detained the entire time her purse was gone thru and the authorities thought their unprofessional behavior was just hilarious i.e. pretending they were going to take drugs and put them in my relatives purse and laughing about it ect....getting back on track no where in the paper work is there any mention of my relative being there or them detaining her or searching her belongings. Why? They violated her 4th amendment right as well as mine. The authorities have no clue that I know who the C.I. is and in the aftermath of it all this individual has had the nerve to phone me on serveral occaisions in hopes of doing this again I would imagine it's been all I can do to bite by tounge but I have. Lastly I appeared infront of the judge for the arraignment as well as my court date(s) and my case was nolle prosequed then a few weeks went by and I recieved a target letter from the D.A.'s office letting me know they were going to continue on with the case. What case? Other than this pathetic baggie they found (that's not even mine) but putting that point aside what evidence do they have. The C.I. involved isn't credible. It's already been over a year and a half I showed for a pre-trail conference last and was told as well as the other folks who were present for theres that we could leave and we didn't need to be there. I know that I need an attorney but like many other people I don't have the kind of money to obtain one and a public defender is better than nothing I'm guessing but in certain matters I do wonder. Not saying they aren't good lawyers they are overloaded and don't have the time or resources to deal with each case as it should be. Thank you for you time and any advice you can give me is much appreciated. I'm sorry to be so lengthy but I wanted you to have the details.
Sincerly yours
1 Answer from Attorneys
Unless you have the money and have hired a private criminal lawyer then go with the public defender. You need some help and you will not get what you need by asking questions on the internet.
Good Luck
Law Guru
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