Boyd shooting case returned to DA’s Office
Outside prosecutors reviewing evidence
The District Attorney’s Office is once again handling the murder case connected to the police shooting of homeless camper James Boyd, a District Court judge decided Thursday.
The office was disqualified from the case in April 2015 over the “appearance of a conflict of interest” involving former District Attorney Kari Brandenburg, according to court documents. The case against former Albuquerque police officers Keith Sandy and Dominique Perez was then assigned to special prosecutor Randi McGinn.
An October trial ended with a jury deadlocked 9-3 in favor of acquitting both.
District Attorney Raúl Torrez has already assembled a team of prosecutors from around the state to review the case. The group will make a recommendation to Torrez, who will ultimately decide how to proceed.
Both former officers were charged with second-degree murder. The case against Perez
has since been dismissed without prejudice, meaning it could be refiled.
In court documents filed Wednesday, Torrez wrote that the grounds for disqualifying the DA’s Office from the case were related specifically to Brandenburg herself and became irrelevant when he was sworn into office Jan. 1.
“Any conflicts created by the presence of former District Attorney Brandenburg to this case no longer exist,” he wrote. He asked that the court rescind the disqualification.
Sandy’s defense attorney, Sam Bregman, said during the hearing Thursday that he had no problem with Torrez taking over.
Torrez told a group of reporters after the hearing that he anticipates that the review process will be completed by the end of the month. At that point, he will consider the recommendation and make a decision about whether the case should be retried.
Bregman said he looks forward to hearing Torrez’s decision.
“This case should not be prosecuted again,” Bregman said. “We’ve already done this once. This community’s done this once already. Why would we do the same thing, (and) get the same result?”