Murder trial delayed after prosecutors report virus exposure
Jun. 9—State District Judge Jason Lidyard halted jury selection in the murder trial for Gabriel Sanchez on Monday in Tierra Amarilla after prosecutors disclosed they'd had contact with a co-worker whose spouse recently tested positive for COVID-19.
Sanchez, 28, of Santa Clara Pueblo is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 67-year-old William Jimerson, who was fatally shot Dec. 18, 2017, at his home in Hernández.
Testimony in the case against Sanchez, who is on house arrest with electronic monitoring, was set to begin Tuesday and last through next week.
But Lidyard halted the jury selection and reset the trial for next month after Deputy District Attorney Geoffrey Tager and Assistant District Attorney Rebecca Ralph alerted him before entering the courthouse "about a potential 3rd party contact" with someone who had COVID-19, according to an email from the District Attorney's Office.
Lidyard met with the prosecutors in the back parking lot of the Rio Arriba County Courthouse, he said during a status conference Tuesday, and learned they'd both been in contact with a District Attorney's Office staffer who'd been ordered to quarantine after a relative tested positive for COVID-19.
The judge said Tager and Ralph said they were both masked and socially distant during the interaction with the employee who was helping with trial preparation. But the staffer had been unmasked during her interaction with Ralph.
The staffer did not have COVID-19, according to discussion in Tuesday's hearing, but had been asked to quarantine after a family member tested positive.
By order of the state Supreme Court, people attempting to enter courthouses in New Mexico must answer seven screening questions regarding their potential exposure to the coronavirus.
One question asks whether in the previous 10 days the person has been in contact with anyone who has COVID-19, anyone who has traveled from out of state, or anyone who has been required to self-quarantine.
The judge said Tager and Ralph would have had to answer yes to the question, thus barring them from the courthouse.
Both Tager and Ralph submitted to rapid response COVID-19 tests at the county detention center near the courthouse Monday morning, Lidyard said during Tuesday's hearing. Despite their negative tests, Lidyard said the chief clerk of court suggested "at least Ralph" should not be allowed to enter the courthouse.
Lidyard asked Tager if he wanted to proceed without Ralph, but Tager declined, noting he and Ralph had divided the work on the case and he wouldn't have been able to proceed to trial without her.
Potential jurors stood outside in a line that wrapped about the courthouse for about two hours Monday as this was going on, Public Defender Sydney West said in Tuesday's hearing.
West's co-counsel Craig Hay said after the hearing he intends to file a motion accusing the state of violating Sanchez's right to a speedy trial, which has already been delayed by a year by a discovery issue that had to be decided by the state Supreme Court.
Lidyard told the prosecutors they should make certain they would be able to pass the screening questions for entry into the courthouse in future proceedings.
"I know right now society is opening up and businesses are being very lax with their requirements, but you all should be wearing masks and doing whatever you need to do ... so when you walk up into the courthouse doors you are able to walk in," Lidyard said.
District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies wrote in a text message the employee whose spouse had tested positive had not been in the office, but had contact with the two lawyers.
"Since we re-opened the office for staff with a staff rotation in June 2020, our internal policies track with [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and [state Department of Health] guidelines," Padgett wrote in an email, adding, "... it has been routine practice that employees must notify management if he/she has had direct contact with anyone who has tested positive for COVID. For jury trials, we require candor to the court about any COVID positive interactions."
