New Mexico v.Thomas
Annotate this CaseIn 2010, Guadalupe Ashford’s body was found partially hidden behind a trash can at the edge of a small parking lot. Drag marks and blood spatter indicated that Ashford had initially been assaulted in the lot and then dragged a short distance to its edge where her body was found. An Albuquerque Police Department (APD) forensic scientist analyst performed DNA measurements of samples collected from Ashford’s body and from a six-inch by six-inch bloodied brick described as “paver stone” and believed to be the murder weapon, generating DNA profiles of Ashford and of the presumed perpetrator. Unidentified DNA was also discovered on the paver stone, though in smaller amounts than the DNA evidence matching either of the full profiles. The forensic analyst entered the presumed perpetrator’s profile into the CODIS database, which resulted in a match to Defendant Truett Thomas. Defendant was arrested and charged on the basis of this DNA evidence, but he denied ever having met Ashford. Defendant was held in pretrial custody for twenty-two months before he moved to dismiss the charges for violation of his right to a speedy trial. The district court denied the motion and set the trial to begin approximately twenty-six months after Defendant’s arrest. By the time the case came to trial, the State’s forensic analyst had moved out of New Mexico. At a hearing two weeks before trial, the prosecutor expressed concerns about securing the presence of that forensic analyst at trial and suggested that she be allowed to testify over the live, two-way audio-video communications application Skype as an alternative. At another pretrial hearing in the following week, the court asked if there were “any other matters” that needed to be addressed before trial. In response, defense counsel expressed hesitation at the use of Skype testimony. The prosecutor replied that the State had not sought an enforceable subpoena for the witness in reliance on defense counsel’s statement a week earlier that Skype would “work.” The district court judge took the position that Defendant had waived any objection to the use of two-way video by defense counsel’s initial informal acquiescence. Defendant appealed after he was convicted for first-degree deliberate murder and first-degree kidnapping on multiple grounds, including an asserted violation of the Confrontation Clause through the admission of Skype testimony of the DNA analyst. After review, the Supreme Court reversed Defendant’s convictions on this basis but remanded for a new trial on the murder charge only, having concluded that there was insufficient evidence to support the kidnapping conviction.
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