Appeals court vacates Driggers order dismissing fatal crash case with prejudice
The New Mexico Court of Appeals vacated a Doña Ana County judge’s dismissal of charges in a fatal crash case, ruling the court lacked authority after prosecutors dropped the case.
Ruling says district judge lacked authority to permanently dismiss charges after prosecutors dropped case tied to death of 16-year-old pedestrian.
Damien Willis, Organ Mountain News
LAS CRUCES - The New Mexico Court of Appeals has vacated a Doña Ana County district judge’s order permanently dismissing criminal charges in a fatal crash case involving a 16-year-old pedestrian, ruling the court lacked authority to act after prosecutors dropped the case.
In a memorandum opinion filed Feb. 26, the appellate court found that District Judge Douglas R. Driggers did not have jurisdiction to dismiss the case with prejudice after prosecutors filed a nolle prosequi — a formal notice dropping the charges.
The underlying case involved charges against Isaiah Angel Anthony Gutierrez related to the death of a teenage pedestrian who was struck by a vehicle in 2023.
According to the opinion, prosecutors filed the nolle prosequi three days before trial after receiving new evidence that led them to conclude probable cause no longer existed to sustain the charges. During a pretrial conference later that day, the district court commended the prosecution’s professionalism but then dismissed the case with prejudice on its own motion.
The written order cited the timing of the dismissal — less than five business days before trial — as the basis for permanently dismissing the charges.
The Court of Appeals ruled that once the state filed the nolle prosequi, the district court lost jurisdiction and could not issue further orders in the case.
“Because there were no such allegations made below, nor is it obvious that the nolle prosequi was a sham, the district court lacked authority to enter further orders after the nolle prosequi was filed,” Judge Kristopher Houghton wrote for the panel.
The appellate court noted that district courts can dismiss cases with prejudice after a nolle prosequi only in limited circumstances, such as when a prosecutor files the dismissal in bad faith or as a sham to circumvent legal rules. No such claims were raised in this case, the court said.
The decision vacates the district court’s order dismissing the charges with prejudice.
Damien Willis is founder and editor of Organ Mountain News. He can be reached at OrganMountainNews@gmail.com or on X at @damienwillis.
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