Misconduct by Albuquerque police is what deserved court sanctions

THE ALBUQUERQUE Police Department, not the court, is to blame for the sanctions imposed in the Mary Hawkes shooting case. If, as the Journal claims, the search for truth was “derailed,” the derailing was caused by APD’s wrongdoing. APD is in the business of collecting and preserving evidence. When it deliberately disposes of evidence that it knows is important to an incident like the Hawkes case, it has to pay the price.

Officer Jeremy Dear, who had a large number of citizen complaints, shot and killed Mary Hawkes. He did not record his deadly encounter with her in violation of APD rules and direct orders. In his deposition, he refused to provide a sworn explanation for his failure, citing his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.

Some on-scene officers testified that their cameras apparently malfunctioned or otherwise failed to record. Some officers’ testimony included unexplained discrepancies about the use of the cameras on that fateful night. With the knowledge that the shooting would likely result in litigation, APD decided not to preserve six video cameras for analysis. Without the cameras, the plaintiffs cannot determine whether all of the videos were uploaded, whether videos actually produced by the defense were edited, or whether the alleged camera malfunctions actually occurred. APD’s misconduct prevented the plaintiffs from finding that proof.

The best evidence of whether Hawkes both had a gun and was a threat would be the videos of the shooting and the events surrounding the shooting. The suggestion by the Journal that (the) argument “about the significance of the unavailable video[s]” could be an adequate substitute for the actual videos is clearly wrong. A standard instruction to the jury in such cases is that “argument is not evidence.” The videos provided by the cameras would have been compelling proof of what actually happened. Moreover, that information could have led to the discovery of additional admissible evidence.

The search for truth about the lethal events of that night was obstructed by APD misconduct. The judge was right to sanction them.