Serving Eastern New Mexico and West Texas
Freedom New Mexico: Tony Bullocks Curry County Under Sheriff Wesley Waller and investigator Waldo Casarez at an Oct. 14 crime scene on Homestead Road where two people was reported dead at the scene. Freedom New Mexico Child convicted in Portales death A Roosevelt County jury on April 15 found a 13-year-old Portales boy guilty of […]
By Sharna Johnson: CNJ staff writer Prosecutors say jail house phone calls show Anthony Ray Casillas was trying to cause a mistrial in his double-homicide case. Tuesday, District Judge Robert Orlik declared a mistrial when a badly beaten witness collapsed during his testimony and two Casillas family members caused a disruption in a courthouse hallway […]
By Sharna Johnson: CNJ staff writer Prosecutors say Anthony Ray Casillas shot two people because he wanted to see what it felt like to kill. But his lawyer says Casillas’ behavior was too absurd to have been planned, implying alcohol and drugs may have influenced him the night Gary Payne and Melissa Ward died. Casillas, […]
Larry Hatcher pleaded no contest Friday to seven counts of child molestation. A Clovis man originally charged with 143 counts of child molestation reached a deal with prosecutors and pleaded no contest to seven counts Friday. Larry Hatcher, 49, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Hatcher’s four-day trial was scheduled to begin Tuesday. It […]
Prosecutors of ex-senator now in trouble. Good. It seems that a serendipitous confluence of unusual events is responsible for the heightened scrutiny that prosecutors who worked on the now-dismissed corruption case of former Alaska Republican Sen. Ted Stevens are receiving. Whatever the reasons, the attention is welcome, especially if it leads to more effective sanctions […]
By Sharna Johnson: CNJ Staff Writer Prosecutors want the trial of a Clovis man charged with more than 100 counts of child molestation moved to Portales because of publicity, according to court records. A motion filed in the 9th Judicial District Court on Thursday cites prejudicial news coverage and statements made by the defendant’s brother […]
Freedom New Mexico Prosecutors say they made no attempt to “glean unfair insight into and through the written notes of jurors” following a mistrial last month, according to court records filed Friday. The defense for accused child molester Larry Hatcher made the allegation Thursday and asked District Judge Stephen Quinn to dismiss the case. Quinn […]
Prosecutors have dismissed charges against a 56-year-old Clovis man who was arrested in June for attempted breaking and entering after he tried to retrieve his bank card from an ATM machine with a pocket knife. “The whole situation? Oh man, how should I put this. I guess I would say that justice was served because […]
Staff and wire reports An Albuquerque man was indicted Friday by an Albuquerque grand jury in a murder-for-hire case being handled by the 9th Judicial District attorney’s office. Earl Scott Robinson, 72, is being held on $1 million bond and is charged with conspiracy to commit murder, criminal solicitation to commit murder, witness intimidation and […]
By Steve Chapman: Syndicated columnist For a prosecutor, DNA analysis can be the best thing in the world. Nothing facilitates a conviction more than biological evidence irrefutably connecting the defendant to the crime through blood, saliva or semen. But DNA analysis can also be the worst thing in the world for prosecutors. It can prove […]
By Freedom Newspapers Boulder, Colo., District Attorney Mary Lacy felt the need to explain herself amid questions about whether she should have spent the time and money pursuing a lead that didn’t pan out. The explanation should not have been necessary. Lacy spent an hour and a half last week discussing the arrest of John […]
By Sharna Johnson: CNJ staff writer The five-day murder trial for Jimmy Bentley is set to begin Monday in the 9th Judicial District Court. Bentley, 72, is accused of shooting and killing Joseph Phillips on Christmas Eve in the parking lot of Econo Lodge on Mabry Drive. Prosecutors have alleged Bentley, a white man, is […]
By Sharna Johnson: CNJ Staff Writer Prosecutors asked a judge to exclude testimony of a defense psychiatric expert from the murder trial of Jimmy Bentley during a hearing Friday in the 9th Judicial District Court. District Attorney Matt Chandler gave the court several reasons for wanting Dr. Samuel Roll stricken as a witness, including outdated […]
Freedom Newspapers It’s not particularly surprising that Enron Corp.’s former top two executives, Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Stilling, were found guilty Thursday on most criminal counts that prosecutors brought against them relating to the demise of what was once the nation’s seventh-largest company. Both men face the prospect of spending the rest of their lives […]
The Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE — The judge hearing the public corruption case against former state Treasurer Robert Vigil on Friday dismissed the four money laundering charges against him. U.S. District Judge James Parker also made a tentative decision to deny a defense motion seeking to throw out all or some extortion counts, and denied the […]
By Linda Deutsch: The Associated Press SANTA MARIA, Calif. — A jury acquitted Michael Jackson on Monday of molesting a 13-year-old cancer survivor at his Neverland ranch — exonerating the pop star who insisted he was the victim of mother-and-son con artists and a prosecutor with a vendetta. Jurors also acquitted Jackson of getting the […]
By David Irvin: CNJ staff writer The 9th Judicial District Attorney’s office will seek the death penalty against two men accused of killing an elderly Portales couple earlier this year. Jerry Fuller and Stanley Bedford are accused of kidnapping and killing Odis, 70, and Doris Newman, 69, earlier this year in Portales. The bodies of […]
Derrick Ervin listens to testimony from the victim’s family Wednesday during his sentencing at Curry County Courthouse. Ervin was sentenced to 33 years in prison for sex crimes committed over an 18-month period. (CNJ staff photo: Eric Kluth) By David Irvin: CNJ staff writer Editor’s note: The Clovis News Journal has opted to withhold some […]
By David Irvin: CNJ staff writer A Melrose man was sentenced to 18 years in prison Monday for sexually assaulting another man in April 2004. A Curry County jury found Steve Woods, 33, guilty in December of criminal sexual penetration, a first-degree felony, and criminal sexual contact and false imprisonment, both fourth degree felonies. The […]
