New Mexico Civil Rights Law Blog : New Mexico Civil Rights Lawyer & Attorney : Kennedy Law Firm : Albuquerque NM Excessive Force & Police Misconduct

The decision in Danny Manzanares v. Sean Higdon, 07-2156, an officer of the Albuquerque Police Department, is a major victory for the rights of citizens being interrogated by the police in their own homes. The 7 yr. old case was brought by Dennis Montoya of Rio Rancho, New Mexico.

Danny Manzanares first consented to the officers entering his home to investigate allegations of rape made against a co-worker and friend, Miguel “Rick” Maestas. Danny later revoked consent, commanding the officers to leave and stop asking him questions.  Instead of leaving, the officers arrested Manzanares, who was neither a material witness nor accessory to the crime of rape, but merely stopping short of informing on his friend’s address.

Continued ...

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

In a recent, split decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, the Court reversed a lower court’s judgement against Sylvia Avila, a Hispanic girl, 13 years old at the time of the incident.  The decision in Glenda Sherouse and Sylvia Avila v. Suzanne Ratchner, et al., No. 08-2105, was written by Circuit Judge McConnell.  The case and appeal was brought by Mary Y.C. Han, Paul J. Kennedy, and Caren I. Friedman for the Plaintiffs-Appellants, in a hard-fought case spanning years. 

The wrongful arrests of the teenage girls arose after three armed robberies, one of which occurred in an Albuquerque Shoes on a Shoestring, a store known for its quality shoes, priced within grasp of the reasonable.  However, because there was enough probable cause supporting the jury’s verdict against Sylvia’s African American friend, then 14 -year-old Glenda Sherouse, the district court denied Sherouse’s Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law.  Civil Rights attorneys are sedulously scouring the opinion, in order to understand its doctrine and reasoning.
      
Contd ...

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link