Mistrial declared in Peñasco kidnapping case
Defense attorney filed to cancel trial after evidence presented after trial began
TAOS — State District Judge Sarah Backus declared a mistrial this week in a 2017 kidnapping case involving a teen girl, ruling that critical evidence was not disclosed until the trial for 22-yearold Cristian Orozco was already underway.
The court proceedings were to decide whether Orozco, an Española man, had kidnapped his ex-girlfriend, a juvenile, from her grandparents’ Peñasco home in February 2017.
Orozco was charged with nine felonies: kidnapping, aggravated burglary, aggravated battery, armed robbery, abuse of a child, two counts of false imprisonment and two counts of aggravated assault.
Ben Mondragon, Orozco’s Las Vegas, N.M.-based attorney, filed a motion Wednesday morning to cancel the trial, arguing it was only after the trial’s first day that prosecutor Tim Hasson had provided him with a report of records collected from the girl’s cellphone.
Hasson said the records had been handled by a Taos County sheriff ’s detective who had since retired and taken a job at another agency, complicating the process. The prosecutor acknowledged the evidence should have been provided earlier, but said there wasn’t enough time to do so before the trial began.
The case was approaching the two-year mark, and with Orozco still held in jail, the District Attorney’s Office in Taos faced additional pressure to go to trial.
Backus said she didn’t fault the District Attorney’s Office for the late evidence, but she said the defendant could not get a fair trial under the circumstances.
Mondragon called the late evidence vital, saying it could clarify whether the teen had communicated with Orozco around the time of the incident and whether she had invited him to the home where authorities say she was kidnapped.
The girl’s grandparents told law enforcement that Orozco, armed with a handgun, had forced his way into their home and had assaulted them before fleeing with their granddaughter.
The ensuing investigation suggested the girl had contacted her father during the kidnapping to tell him she was not in danger, another detail Mondragon believed might be reflected in the phone records.
The incident came to a swift end when police surrounded a home where Orozco and the girl were staying in Española, arresting Orozco and taking the teen into custody.
While the girl was found safe, she had bruises and other markings on her body, police say.
She testified in court Tuesday that she had been in a relationship with Orozco some months prior to the incident. She and Orozco had visited an Española casino the night she was taken, the girl said. They later attended a gathering at the residence where law enforcement found them the next morning.
At certain times during the ordeal, she said, she was surrounded by other people. At other times, she added, she was separated from Orozco but made no attempt to flee.
When Mondragon asked why she didn’t try to escape, the girl said she feared retribution by Orozco.
Mondragon pointed out details of her story that seemed to change from one police interview to the next.
Her testimony was halted early on by an outburst from Orozco that prompted Backus to call for a recess.
Arguing for the mistrial Wednesday over the late evidence, Mondragon also said there likely would be no way for the jury to separate Orozco’s courtroom behavior from the facts presented during the trial.
And he and Hasson both agreed that testimony Tuesday from New Mexico State Police Agent Jesse Whittaker had tainted the trial process. The agent quoted statements the girl had made regarding Orozco’s character, saying he was “a nice guy” who dealt with “anger issues.”
Although character evidence is sometimes allowed at trial, the attorneys said the agent’s statement was inappropriate.
The District Attorney’s Office has the option to seek a new trial in the case.
This story first appeared in The Taos News, a sister publication of the Santa Fe New Mexican.