DWI trial begins for state senator
Martinez also charged with reckless driving
SANTA FE — New Mexico state Sen. Richard Martinez’s drunken driving trial got underway Monday with detailed testimony about injuries suffered when the veteran lawmaker rear-ended another vehicle in Española and testy exchanges over whether proper police protocol was followed in the case.
Martinez’s defense attorney described the June 28 traffic crash as a simple accident and suggested the Española police officer who arrested the senator ignored the possibility that Martinez was dazed after the crash due to hitting his head on the windshield.
“You didn’t account for things you were told,” attorney David Foster said to Española police officer Dustin Chavez during Monday’s court proceedings.
However, the officer countered by defending his investigation, saying Martinez showed classic signs of intoxication — including glassy
eyes, slurred speech and the smell of alcohol — after crashing his SUV into a vehicle that had been stopped at a red light.
Other witnesses called to testify by prosecutors with Attorney General Hector Balderas’ office also said Martinez appeared to be impaired.
Valerie Merl, an emergency room doctor at Presbyterian Española Hospital, said that she could smell alcohol on Martinez’s breath and that he did not appear to have any serious head injuries, though he did break bones in his foot in the crash.
“If there’s enough alcohol for me to smell it on their breath, they are normally intoxicated,” Merl said.
The two-day bench trial, which is expected to wrap up Tuesday, is playing out just one month before a 30-day session gets underway at the Roundhouse.
Martinez, an Ojo Caliente Democrat who has served in the Senate since 2001, has entered a plea of not guilty to charges of aggravated DWI and reckless driving stemming from the crash.
He faces up to 180 days in jail but has said he does not plan to resign from the Legislature, even if convicted. The veteran senator has also said he feels he can still serve ably as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, saying the experience could end up making him a “better senator.”
Martinez, who is also a retired Rio Arriba County magistrate judge, remained largely stoic during the opening phase of his trial, even while viewing portions of the police officer’s lapel cam video of his interrogation and arrest.
At one point during Monday’s proceedings, prosecutors asked the arresting officer about dark spots visible on the shorts Martinez was wearing. The officer said he believed the apparent stains were from urine, which he described as typical from highly intoxicated individuals.
Before that testimony, Martinez’s defense attorney had sought to have some portions of the video barred from evidence, arguing the alternative sobriety tests used by the officer — including a finger dexterity test — did not follow established law enforcement guidelines.
But District Judge Francis Mathew, the eighth judge assigned to the case after other judges either recused themselves or were bumped off it, rejected the request after prosecutors cited a recent New Mexico Court of Appeals ruling that upheld such tests being admitted as evidence in criminal cases.
After his arrest, Martinez refused to take a breath test to determine blood alcohol content and pleaded with the police officer not to arrest him. The refusal to submit to a breath test is grounds for an aggravated DWI charge under New Mexico law.
It’s not clear whether Martinez will testify in the trial.
Meanwhile, Johnny Sisneros, the driver of the other vehicle, testified he suffered excruciating pain after being rear-ended and is still dealing with neck, back and hip injuries.
“I have good days and I have bad days — I hurt a lot now,” said Sisneros, who added he is no longer able to work as a security officer and can no longer play on the family’s trampoline with his granddaughter.
Martinez has indicated he plans to seek election to a new four-year term in 2020, and no challengers — either Democrats or Republicans — have emerged for the Senate District 5 seat.