DA LOSES DWI APPEAL IN NEW MEXICO

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) - A New Mexico court has denied the appeal of a West
Texas prosecutor on a misdemeanor aggravated drinking while intoxicated
conviction.

Terry McEachern, who prosecuted most of the cases in the now-discredited
Tulia drug busts, was convicted in June. He did not immediately return a
phone call seeking comment Wednesday.

McEachern failed field sobriety tests in November in Ruidoso, N.M., and
refused to take a breath test, which broke New Mexico's implied consent law
and made it an aggravated DWI charge.

McEachern, the district attorney in Swisher and Hale counties and portions
of Castro County, was sentenced to two days in jail and fined $300.

His appeal was based on charges having initially been filed in magistrate
court, which had six months to take up the case. Prosecutors had dismissed
that case and filed the same charges in district court. The Court of
Appeals of the State of New Mexico issued its opinion Monday.