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The Journal Editorial Board and Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller have come out against New Mexico’s proposed civil rights bill. The bill would make timely justice available, in state courts, to victims of police misconduct. The bill would remove the city’s ability to delay justice through the use of a qualified immunity defense. The Journal and Mayor Keller say compensating victims of incompetent police work is just too expensive. They provide no evidence to support their claim that the bill will add any cost to taxpayers. In fact, passage of the bill would encourage early settlement of most litigation and save municipalities millions of dollars in defense attorney fees and expert fees.
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First, it was the botched investigation in the Victoria Martens murder. Then, a cynical public learned of serious problems in the Albuquerque Police Department’s investigation into the shooting death of Jacqueline Vigil. Both cases involved shoddy police work and false confessions.
Now, we learn in shocking detail how APD bungled its investigation into the shooting death of a man during an armed robbery – resulting in an 18-year-old girl who lived with her family and worked as an office assistant at Albuquerque High School being charged with murder and thrown in jail for a week, where she was strip-searched several times.