Ex-officer won’t be charged in fatal shooting
Evidence insufficient, special prosecutors say
A team of special prosecutors announced Tuesday that charges will not be filed against former Albuquerque police officer Jeremy Dear for shooting and killing 19-year-old Mary Hawkes in April 2014.
The decision brings an end to a high-profile shooting case that happened at a tense time when Albuquerque had just received a findings letter from the U.S. Department of Justice that would launch police into a yearslong reform effort that is changing the way police use force and investigate police shootings. It also raised questions about the department’s lapel camera policies.
A team put together by 2nd Judicial District Attorney Raúl Torrez and headed by Michael Cox, a special prosecutor, said in a letter to Albuquerque Police Chief Michael Geier that no charges will be filed against Dear and the case is closed.
Dear shot Hawkes, a suspected car thief, after a foot chase near Wyoming and Zuni SE early in the morning of April 21, 2014, 11 days after the DOJ’s findings were released.
An officer who had been sued for excessive force and had a high number of civilian complaints against him, Dear said his lapel camera came unplugged and didn’t record the shooting.
Former Albuquerque Police Chief Gorden Eden said that during the chase Hawkes stopped, turned and pointed a gun at Dear. But attorneys for Hawkes’ family
questioned that account, given Hawkes’ injuries.
Cox said in an interview that there was no way to conclude the exact body positions of Dear and Hawkes when the shooting happened.
“The question we had to ask was, did she have a gun?” Cox said in an interview. “We couldn’t overcome the possibility that she had a gun and she pointed it. All the evidence showed that she did.”
A lawsuit brought by Hawkes’ family against the city was settled for $5 million last month.
Dear was ultimately fired from the Albuquerque Police Department because Eden considered him insubordinate for failing to record all his interactions with civilians, which the former chief said Dear had to do because of the complaints against him.
Dear appealed to get his job back, but a state district judge rejected the appeal last month.
Laura Schauer Ives, one of the family’s attorneys, said the district attorney had said he would meet with the Hawkes family about the case before a decision was reached on charges, which Schauer Ives said didn’t happen.
She released a statement from members of the Hawkes family that said they were disappointed with the decision.
“District Attorney Raúl Torrez promised officer involved shootings in Albuquerque would receive impartial review under his stewardship,” the family said in a statement. “The findings in the Hawkes’ case and, more importantly the gross mischaracterization of the evidence in the Hawkes’ case, demonstrate that his promise was hollow.”
District Attorney spokesman Michael Patrick said Torrez does plan on meeting with the family.