Burglary, assault victim ends up in jail for seeking help from DA
It was, by all accounts, a couple of touches on the shoulder, a tap, a pat, followed by a slight pull on said shoulder as if trying to get the attention of the human attached to that shoulder.
Which is what Richard Davis was trying to do when he saw Doña Ana County District Attorney Mark D’Antonio sitting in the audience at a victims of crime rally earlier this month in Las Cruces.
That touch was enough to get Davis, 38, thrown in jail, charged with petty misdemeanor battery.
It’s a stunning reversal of sorts. Until recently, D’Antonio’s office was also prosecuting a case in which Davis was not a defendant but a victim of a burglary that left him not just touched but beaten with a bat made of rebar and wood and gouged at least a dozen times in his back with a hatchet.
Think of that. A crime victim
at an event for crime victims is now charged with the crime of victimizing the county’s top crime-fighter with a touch of his hand.
“What’s upsetting to me most is that I have now done more jail time than the person who broke into my house and stabbed me,” said Davis, who was arraigned Tuesday in Dona Ana Magistrate Court in Las Cruces and remains free on his own recognizance.
Davis is disgruntled that after 1½ years since he was robbed and stabbed in his home Oct. 26, 2016, the case has yet to be resolved.
Trial has been set and vacated four times, each time at the request of the defense attorney for Diego Vallejo, the 19-year-old charged with aggravated burglary, armed robbery, breaking and entering, criminal damage to property and conspiracy.
The case includes a hate-crime enhancement because authorities say Vallejo and his accomplices, who have never been caught, yelled gay slurs at Davis, who is gay, before beating and stabbing him until Davis was able to grab a pistol and shoot Vallejo in the leg.
“It seems like oftentimes unless victims speak up, it’s just so easy for the prosecutors to just let cases go by the wayside,” Davis said. “People broke into my house and tried to kill me, but I am not going to become a pushover. I’m not going to let D’Antonio bully me.”
But D’Antonio says it’s Davis who is the bully.
District attorney’s office spokesman Damien Willis declined to comment on the matter, because the case is open and ongoing.
But he provided a Feb. 21 letter written by D’Antonio to Davis that calls out Davis’ for his “disrespect and unwarranted aggression” toward prosecutors and office staff.
“You were unkind and meanspirited,” the letter states. “I question your veracity and your ability to understand right from wrong.”
D’Antonio further complains that Davis posted “vile and untrue insults” about him on social media and may have been prompted to do so by an unnamed public official.
So egregious was Davis’ behavior, D’Antonio contends, that it created a conflict between his office and Davis. As a result, District Attorney Dianna Luce of the 5th Judicial District in Carlsbad has been appointed special prosecutor to handle Davis’ case — the fourth prosecutor assigned to the case. A new trial date has been set for July 24.
And yes, Davis admits that he’s become outspoken and maybe a bit rude because what happened to him — and what hasn’t happened, namely a trial — torments him daily.
“Not a day goes by that this hasn’t affected me,” he said. “I worry about the ones who got away that day and I worry that no one is doing anything to put the one they did catch away.”
On April 7, he said he attended the National Crime Victims’ Rights Walk/ Expo at a Las Cruces park, armed with a megaphone and a copy of the Feb. 21 letter in the hopes of confronting D’Antonio, who was expected to speak at the event.
As D’Antonio spoke, Davis said he began shouting “Lies, lies, lies, you have personally re-victimized me” but was thwarted by a biker group that circled him and nudged him to the back of the park.
After the speech, Davis said he found D’Antonio sitting in the audience, tapped him on the shoulder and, with tears in his eyes, dropped the letter at his feet.
That’s when he was taken into custody.
D’Antonio, a Democrat, has had his share of controversy. The twiceelected district attorney is the focus of two whistleblower lawsuits — one, filed in September by his former office manager, that accuses him of offering to dismiss criminal charges against a defendant in exchange for money, retaining bad employees as political favors, mishandling cases and discriminating against women in his office.
In February, Gov. Susana Martinez, who once had D’Antonio’s job, accused him of “complete incompetence” after a mentally ill man accused of killing his mother in 2007 walked free.
Dealing with upset, angry folks comes with the job of being a public figure — just ask U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham — but such lofty positions require a thicker skin, listening, learning and the ability to discern the difference between persistence and nuisance, aggrievement and abuse, a tap and an attack.
In the case between Davis and D’Antonio, one wonders who the real victim is. UpFront is a front-page news and opinion column. Comment directly to Joline at 8233603, jkrueger@abqjournal.com or follow her on Twitter @jolinegkg.