Drug Trafficking Charges Dismissed

Mr. Romero represented a client that was charged with trafficking a controlled substance (cocaine) in April, 2011. The defendant in the case was stopped after allegedly blocking traffic and driving away from a police officer that began following him. At a suppression hearing, Mr. Romero argued that the search and seizure of his client was unconstitutional, and that all of the evidence should be thrown out of court.

At the hearing, Mr. Romero called one lay witness and one expert polygraph examiner to testify, cross-examined the State's sole witness, an Albuquerque Police Department Officer. The District Court judge granted the motion and issued an order suppressing all of the evidence in the case. In essence, the case had to be dismissed. The government appealed to the New Mexico State Court of Appeals. On December 4, 2013, the Court of Appeals of The State of New Mexico upheld the District Court's ruling:

We conclude that the district court did not err in finding that there was no reasonable suspicion for the stop on the basis of a Section 66-7-308(A) violation and that sufficient evidence supported the district court's ruling.

For the full Memorandum Opinion from the Court of Appeals, see, New Mexico State Court of Appeals Case No. 32,544. To learn about similar successes achieved by The Romero Law Firm, P.A., please visit our case results page.