The New Mexico Supreme Court will continue its civics education program for students by hearing legal arguments next month in a criminal case appeal.
The court will hold its oral argument on April 3 at 1 p.m. at the Nick Salazar Center for the Arts on the campus of Northern New Mexico College. Schools in and around the Española Valley will be offered priority seating, per KRQE.
“Watching a court proceeding helps students understand the role and purpose of the judiciary and the rule of law — the principle that no person or institution is above the law and they are treated equally and fairly under those laws,” Justice David K. Thomson said in the release.
Students can attend the event in person or virtually. They can observe attorneys explain their positions on the legal issues in a case and justices question the attorneys to clarify matters.
According to the release, the justices will hear arguments in a case where a Farmington man, Eric King, contends police unlawfully towed and impounded his vehicle after a traffic stop in 2019 for an outstanding arrest warrant. Police later searched the vehicle and found methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana in the truck.
The central legal question in the case is whether the constitution allows law enforcement in New Mexico to seize a person’s vehicle after an arrest without “exigent circumstances?” It must be something so urgent it requires immediate action and creates an exception to the general requirement to obtain a warrant.
King contends in his appeal that the decision by police to tow and impound his vehicle – seizing it – was a pretext to search it after he had denied an officer permission. King pulled over his truck and legally parked it before police ordered him out of the vehicle and arrested him. Two days after the truck was impounded, a drug-sniffing dog alerted police to possible illegal drugs in the vehicle and a search warrant was obtained. That’s when the drugs were found.
King appealed a district court’s decision to allow prosecutors to use evidence of the drugs found during the search of his truck. The state Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court’s decision and King took his legal challenge to the Supreme Court. He is asking the justices to reverse his conviction on a felony drug trafficking charge and rule that police unlawfully seized and impounded his vehicle.
The attorney general’s office, representing the state of New Mexico, argues that the state constitution does not require “exigent circumstances” to lawfully impound and inventory a vehicle without a warrant.
Attorneys for the defense and the prosecution will answer questions from students while the Court deliberates in private after the hearing.