Bill aims to shine light on police shootings

SANTA FE (KRQE) - When an officer on duty shoots and kills someone, the process to charge or not charge the officer with a crime had been different from just about any other grand jury session in Albuquerque.

Behind closed doors, an investigative grand jury with the power to only deem a shooting justified or not justified, not indict the officer, was convened and heard evidence.

That process has never turned up a result of a shooting being not justified even as some civil cases against APD officers moved forward.

Investigative grand juries are temporarily suspended while the District Court looks into whether they're legal.

Sen. Cisco McSorley, D-Albuquerque, says there's a better way, one that would be far more transparent.

McSorley's introduced a bill that would require a district attorney to hold an open and public preliminary court hearing whenever there's a fatal officer-involved shooting. At that hearing, the facts of the shooting and related evidence would be laid out, whether or not the DA believes there's probable cause to charge the officer with a crime.

"If you don't have a public hearing, it doesn't instill confidence in the general public," McSorley said.

"I think this needs to move forward so the facts come to light and that we all truly know what happened that day," added former prosecutor and current Rep. Moe Maestas, D-Albuquerque.

But there are some concerns from district attorneys. Farmington DA Rick Tedrow says that as the bill is currently written, it would force prosecutors to file criminal charges against an officer to have the hearing.

"We shouldn't bring anything before a preliminary hearing without an honest good-faith belief that there's probable cause to support the facts being charged," Tedrow said.

Tedrow and Albuquerque DA Kari Brandenburg say if these open court hearings can happen without a criminal complaint being filed, they would support the proposal.

McSorley says he doesn't see a criminal complaint as necessary to holding these kinds of open hearings and wouldn't have a problem tweaking his bill as necessary.

The Albuquerque Police Department, currently the subject of a federal investigation of officers' use of force, declined to comment on this story.