Posted: 03/01/2009 01:00:00 AM MST



The mistrial declared last week in the case of a man accused of impersonating a border patrol agent ought to lead local law enforcement officials to reconsider their opposition to a bill now in the state Legislature that would standardize criminal identification procedures in New Mexico.

This was a case where prosecutors have what should have been an ideal witness — an employee of the District's Attorney's office who was able to keep her wits about her when approached by a man wearing a Border Patrol uniform and accusing her of transporting illegal immigrants. She convinced the impostor to follow her to the DA's office, and he instead turned the other way and went the opposite direction.

The woman identified David Ramos-Arenas from a clip on a TV station Web site after he had been arrested in Alamogordo on charges that he had assaulted a mentally handicapped woman while pretending to be a Border Patrol officer. She then notified local law enforcement. Instead of setting up a lineup, police investigators showed the woman one photo — that of Ramos-Arenas. Later in court, defense attorney Joseph Shattuck was able to use the lack of a lineup to sow seeds of doubt in two of the 12 jurors.

"That's not a good identification," Shattuck said. "That's so suggestive."

We agree.

Doña Ana County Sheriff's officers who drove to Santa Fe earlier this session to oppose the Reliable Eyewitness Identification Act introduced by Rep. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, argued that it wasn't necessary. They always use a "six pack" — six photos all shown at once and a lineup of suspects all at once. That has proven to be the best system, they said. And they may be right. If so, they should work to amend the bill and have that as the standardized system.

The point is, right now we have no system at all, which leads to sloppy identification procedures, which leads to mistrials, which cost the taxpayers' money and delay justice.


http://www.scsun-news.com/ci_11803866