DA CUTS FELONY CASELOAD

When Larry Robert Prieto was arrested at his Albuquerque home Wednesday, he
allegedly showed police where crack cocaine was hidden and said he had been
selling drugs.

"He apologized to us," said Detective Thomas Gutierrez, who worked on the
case. Prieto allegedly said he was peddling drugs to make ends meet and
said "it's a tough, cruel world," Gutierrez added.

But Thursday, the 37-year-old Prieto walked out of jail after the District
Attorney's Office dismissed charges. In fact, 67 percent of the suspected
felons caught by city and county law officers in the past several days have
had their charges dropped.

The District Attorney's Office has dramatically increased the number of
new, nonviolent felony cases it dismisses following a recent Supreme Court
ruling that requires prosecutors to seek grand jury reindictments in more
than 1,300 older felony cases.

Such a dismissal -- called a Nolle Prosequi -- doesn't mean the suspects
won't ever be charged with a crime. Deputy District Attorney Richard Bowman
said prosecutors plan to eventually seek indictments in most of the cases.

But Bowman said prosecutors are forced to focus on getting indictments in
violent felony cases to keep those suspects in jail.

In the meantime, more suspected burglars, auto thieves and drug dealers
could be on the streets instead of behind bars.

"It's certainly a safety issue to the public," city Police Chief Jerry
Galvin said. "I don't want an increase in my burglaries. I don't want an
increase in my theft cases."

Bowman said, "I have to sign a lot of the 'nolles,' and it's a terrible
feeling for me. It feels terrible because you know what you could do
yesterday in terms of moving the case, you can't do today. Right now, the
office's priority is to keep these violent cases moving through the system."

"Obviously, we've had to reprioritize because of this ruling," District
Attorney Jeff Romero said. "(But) nobody is going to get off scot-free if I
can help it. If we have the evidence to prosecute, we will prosecute. We're
going to get around to them; it's just a matter of time. I'd tell the
defense bar not to have a keg party just yet."

In Bernalillo County, grand juries -- panels of 12 citizens -- are convened
to decide whether there is probable cause to charge a suspect with a felony.

Prosecutors previously had used a written manual to instruct those grand
jurors on the elements of each crime. But the Supreme Court in February
upheld a state Court of Appeals opinion that said prosecutors should have
given oral, on-the-record instructions or made a better record of the
written instructions.

Bowman said the decision has prosecutors busy trying to get reindictments
for violent suspects so they will stay behind bars. Current homicide,
assault, kidnapping and robbery cases, as well as repeat drunken-driving
felony cases, also are a priority, he said.

He said before the ruling, his office tried to quickly indict suspected
drug dealers and those who had a string of property-crimes cases. But now,
"we're having to wait until we can get those in the system. They are
getting out (of jail)."

It's never been uncommon for prosecutors to file dismissals in some
nonviolent cases. They must obtain an indictment within 10 days if a
suspect stays behind bars, so dismissing charges and freeing the suspect
gives investigators more time to prepare their case.

Bowman estimated that before the ruling, 30 percent of the felony arrests
resulted in a dismissal. On Thursday, 11 of the 15 felony arrests from the
previous day were dismissed; 33 of the 46 cases from the weekend also were
dropped.

A 62-year-old man was arrested at a city Wal-Mart on Wednesday after he
allegedly filled a shopping cart with $424 worth of goods, plunked down
$115 for the items and fled. Case dismissed.

A 24-year-old woman was booked into jail after city Open Space rangers
allegedly found crack cocaine in the car she was in. Case dismissed.

Police Lt. Rocky Nogales said APD will continue to ask prosecutors to keep
repeat nonviolent offenders behind bars.

"The bottom line is, APD is going to do business as normal," Nogales said.
If there's an auto burglar breaking into numerous cars, "the only way to
stop his little crime spree is to keep him in jail. If there's a specific
guy we think is out tearing up a neighborhood, we'll ask (Bowman), 'keep
him in.' ''