DA shares her take on DWI stats
The recent Santa Fe New Mexican article (“Prosecutor’s race defined in just three letters: DWI,” May 5) covered an important topic for our community but missed the mark several times. I’d like to set the record straight.
During Marco Serna’s term in office, here is what happened when someone was arrested for DWI. First, an employee at the District Attorney’s Office would comb through court records every morning to see who got arrested for what the night before (the District Attorney’s Office is never notified when an arrest occurs). District Attorney staff would then open a formal case and send a request to the relevant law enforcement agency for all “discovery,” or evidence, related to that case.
Historically, in well over 90% of cases, the discovery the DA’s Office would get back from law enforcement would be incomplete, necessitating a second, third, or even fourth attempt for evidence. The problem is that the clock had started ticking from the time of the arrest, resulting in a dismissal at least 50% of the time and often more, simply because evidence could not be gathered in time. To be clear, that meant that 1 out of every 2 people charged with DWI saw their cases thrown out on a technicality. They were back on the streets without penalty.
Unlike my predecessor, I believed this dismissal rate was unacceptable, so I did something about it.
Under my watch, the District Attorney’s Office now automatically dismisses DWI cases when they happen. That gives law enforcement the time they need to gather evidence. When the evidence is collected, we refile the DWI case. This new procedure — along with better training for officers and improved communications with law enforcement personnel — has shown an astounding 87% conviction rate for DWIs, more than double the rate before I took office.
The New Mexican apparently doubts the veracity of our statistics, but don’t just take my word for it. Julie Ball, who leads the
Law Offices of the Public Defender in Judicial District 1 — our literal opponents in court on DWI charges — had this to say, which The New Mexican declined to use in their article: “I have reviewed the data provided by the Office of the District Attorney in the First Judicial District, which includes all misdemeanor cases filed in Santa Fe County where DWI is the controlling charge (DR cases). The data provided by the DA is accurate and mirrors our own as the best method for evaluating DWI outcomes.”
Ball further stated, “When comparing the total number of cases filed by law enforcement from 2018 through 2023, the conviction rate has risen dramatically, and appears to be holding steady at 87%. From our perspective, the rise in the conviction rate is directly related to the extensive scope of discovery delivered to our office simultaneous with the refiling of the case as well as the dramatic reduction in constitutional and statutory violations by law enforcement officers. This allows our attorneys to quickly gauge the strength of the case and resolve expediently allowing defendants to get treatment for their addiction on an expedited basis.”
We welcome The New Mexican, Serna, and all others to review these statistics on our website at.1st-jda.com/dwi.
Our office is proud of the innovative approach we have taken to convict DWI offenders. We stand by our numbers and our procedures, which have doubled DWI conviction rates.