Gallup plea dealing dumps DWI charges

GALLUP, N.M. (KRQE) - A judge and district attorney who vowed to stop breaking state law by pleading away DWI charges continue to do so, and one of the drivers they cut loose now stands accused in a fatal collision.

In 2007 KRQE News 13 investigative reporter Larry Barker revealed McKinley County District Attorney Karl Gillson and his attorneys were drawing up the plea deals, and magistrate judges are accepting them.

Barker found more than 50 such cases violating a state law that says DWI charges cannot be pleaded down to a non-DWI charge.

"The law is very clear," state DWI Czar Rachel O'Connor told News 13. "If you blow over a 0.8 in New Mexico, you can't be pled out of the DWI statute to something like careless or reckless driving.

"It's extremely frustrating because McKinley is our No. 1 focus county in the state of New Mexico."

 

A death in Gallup

 

News 13 has learned Gillson and some judges are still pleading down DWI cases to lesser traffic charges even though in 2007 they conceded what they were doing was illegal.

At that time Barker reported on the case of Daryl Begay and his two DWI arrests. Police had arrested Begay 2006 alleging he was intoxicated with a blood-alcohol level of more than twice the 0.8 limit for presumed intoxication under state law.

But instead of facing jail time if convicted of aggravated DWI he pleaded to a minor traffic offense and paid a $300 fine in a deal initiated by Gillson and approved by Magistrate Judge John Carey.

Now police believe Begay was again driving drunk on Sept. 23 when he crashed head-on into a pickup truck driven by Scot Costley in Gallup. Costley, 21, died the next day.

"I saw my son fight for air," Todd Costley told News 13. "I'm watching his body fight, just fight to stay alive."

Begay is again charged with DWI although this time with an added count of vehicular homicide. He's being held in the McKinley County Detention Center on a $200,000 cash-only bond.

When Barker interviewed Gillson in 2007 he asked if there was a good excuse for a district attorney not to follow the law.

"No," Gillson replied. "That's what I'm sworn to do."

In a separate interview Carey told Barker there would no more such pleas in his courtroom.

"Now that we know, Mr. Barker, about the illegality of what we have been doing, occasionally, speaking for myself, we won't do that anymore," Carey said.

 

Plea deals continue

 

Now News 13 has learned Gillson and Carey still are allowing the illegal plea deals that let accused drunken drivers walk away with minor traffic convictions.

Among the cases:

• Ryan Howes, 25, arrested last year and accused of drunken driving at twice the legal limit. Charged with aggravated DWI he faced a mandatory two days in jail if convicted. Instead Gillson allowed Howes to plead to reckless driving, and Carey fined him $165.
   
• Rena Platero, 56, faced a drunken driving charge last year, but she left Carey's court sentenced to unsupervised probation for careless driving.
   
• Magdalena Resendiz charged in August with second-offense DWI. If convicted she faced a mandatory three days, but Gillson cut her a deal. Resendiz walked out of court on probation for careless driving charge.

Over the phone Gillson told News 13 he "cannot hold his attorneys hands" and had given "strict instruction" not to plead down DWI cases.

When News 13 attempted to interview Gillson on camera in Gallup he had just stepped out of a trial during recess and said he would comment later. Later, as News 13 waited, Gillson left by a back door.

Carey did answer questions for News 13 off camera and admitted the plea deals did not follow the law.

"Our communities are not safe when we have people who are not being held accountable for the offenses," Executive Director Lora Lee Ortiz of Mothers Against Drunk Driving told News 13.

MADD filed a complaint against Carey with the Judicial Standards Commission over accepting the plea deals. Earlier this month, the Commission issued Carey a confidential letter of caution and dismissed the complaint.

The legal wrangling, however, is small comfort to the Costley family still is grieving the loss of their son and wondering if he might still be alive had Begay been convicted of DWI three years ago.

"Him even spending 30 days in jail would have given time to be without alcohol for 30 days," Christy Costley, Scott's mother, said.

"The community is the only thing that's going to make this work," Todd Costley added. "It's not like Judge Carey or any of the judges are going to change their ways and everything going to be fine."