LAW OFFICE OF FRANCES CROCKETT IN THE NEWS

Click on a link below to read articles and case information featuring Attorney Frances Crockett.

2023 – Estate of Jared Romero v. Bernalillo County Sheriff Office and County of Bernalillo

Jared Romero was fatally shot by Bernalillo County Sheriff Officers in April 2023.

• KOB 4 News – Febraury 22, 2024
• KOB 4 News – February 13, 2024

2023 – Estate of Leland Ferrill – Settled $2 Million with Colfax County and Confidential Amount with regard to the Medical Provider

On July 8, 2021, Leland Ferrill was arrested by the Colfax County Sheriff and was transported to the Colfax County Vigil Maldonado Detention Center. Sergeant Sandoval filled out an Intake Medical Questionnaire noting that Mr. Ferrill was under the influence of alcohol at the time he was admitted to the jail. A new offender intake screening form was also completed and it indicates that the answer “yes” to the question “signs of being under the influence alcohol/drugs” and “type(s) of drug/alcohol used” was written “alcohol”. The next morning, the Nursing Director for Roadrunner Health, Chavez, filled out a Medical Receiving Screen but neglected to fill out the bottom of the form that deals with alcohol and substance use/abuse. No vitals were taken. No withdrawal protocol was initiated. Mr. Ferrill did not exhibit any abnormal actions or behavior and was cooperative and respectful.

Mr. Ferrill was placed in cell C-3 first but due to his behavior and that there was no working camera (yet another violation of the standards) he was moved to cell C-1, both of which were restrictive custody. The policy for Restrictive Housing (p.31) states “At least two hours per day outside the cell seven days a week.” This policy was also not enforced with respect to Mr. Ferrill’s five days in the Colfax County, prior to his death. Between July 8, 2021 and July 13, 2021, when he died at the Colfax County Jail, Mr. Ferrill’s physical condition deteriorated remarkably. His behavior dramatically changed. He was not eating or drinking fluids. He was having a hard time standing. He was not sleeping. He was talking to himself and others that were not present. He was picking at the walls and exhibiting other signs of mental and physical distress that all went ignored by medical and jail staff, despite both medical and jail staff documenting the aforementioned. Indeed, video from the jail shows that both the medical staff and jail staff knew of the aforementioned and at times mocked Ferrill for his behaviors. Neither medical staff nor corrections officers took preventive action to diagnose or treat his acute alcohol intoxication and subsequent withdrawal. The treatment he received, or the lack thereof violated not only the Colfax County Jail policies, but national standards of care. Starting at the very least on the 11th of July, Mr. Ferrill showed signs of needing medical and mental health attention.

In this case the family fought and achieved many non-monetary settlement agreements to ensure that the polices were changed (see attached letter), and subsequent tragedies such as the one with Mr, Ferrill never occurred. Following the suit in this case an investigation was opened into the county manager and the medical contractor.

• KRTN Radio Enchanted Air Raton, NM – January 12, 2023
• KRTN Radio Enchanted Air Raton, NM – October 28, 2022
• KRTN Radio Enchanted Air Raton, NM – October 27, 2022
• Colfax County Board of Commissioners – October 12, 2022

2022 – Estate of Keshawn Thomas v. Albuquerque Police Department and City of Albuquerque

Keshawn Thomas was fatally shot by Albuquerque Police Department Officers in August 2022.

• ABQ Journal – July 13, 2023
• KRQE News – May 19, 2023
• Daily Beast – October 18, 2022
• ABQ Journal – September 16, 2022
• Source NM – September 15, 2022

2022 – In the matter of E.T. v. City of Clovis Police Department – Settled $200,00.00

E.T.  was injured when a K9 police dog handled by a City of Clovis Police Officer attacked him while he was at the home of the aforementioned Police Officer (handler). The K9 was allowed, despite the history of the dog having at least one accidental bite just weeks prior. The handler also knew that, at the time of the bite of E.T., the K9 was agitated from being outside in the heat and was agitated by the flies outside. His handler knew of the aforementioned and yet allowed him to enter the home unsupervised where young children were playing hide and seek.

2022 – David Pedraza v. City of Las Cruces Police Department – Settled $495,000.00

On September 22, 2018, David Pedraza was a passenger in a vehicle when Las Cruces Police Officer Christopher Smelser performed what was alleged to be a pre-textual stop which resulted in the use of a vascular neck restraint (“VNR”), and other means of force against Mr. Pedraza who was yelling that he was not resisting and that he could not breathe.  Mr. Pedraza felt the effects of the vascular neck restraint but did not fully lose consciousness.  However, during the attack, Defendant Smelser broke Mr. Pedraza’s collar bone and dislocated/tore his shoulder. Mr. Pedraza had to have two surgeries and Defendant Smelser was terminated from the department for his use of the VNR on another man, only a few weeks apart from his use of force on Mr. Pedraza, Antonio Valenzuela, who died as a result. Officer Christopher Smelser was prosecuted for the murder of Mr. Valenzuela.

• Las Cruces Sun News – June 15, 2020

2022 – Helping All New Mexican Inmates to be Cured of Hepatis C and in turn helping all New Mexicans – A Public Medical Crisis in New Mexico

In 2015, I started receiving letters from incarcerated individuals who were being denied critical treatment for hepatitis C, also known as HCV. It wasn’t just one letter here and there it was a lot of letters and that’s what sparked my attention. I started doing some investigation as to why inmates weren’t receiving this new treatment which was being touted as a cure for hepatitis. I didn’t see it as just a problem for just New Mexican inmates, but I saw it as a problem for the entire state of New Mexico. Eventually these inmates are going to be released from prison and likely will infect other people. The costs associated with treatment of the medical issues that stem from having hepatitis C are costly. As a result of curing hepatitis C we save the state large amounts of money in treating the other diseases and conditions that flow from having hepatitis C. I felt fortunate to communicate these issues with the ACLU in addition be able to set up a meeting with the governor’s office. We were also fortunate to have an administration who was open and willing to listen and work towards a mutual goal of accomplishing what we all saw as a public medical crisis in New Mexico. In 2019 New Mexico had the highest prevalence of HCV in the nation, the highest concentration of which was in the New Mexico prisons. Indeed, nearly half of New Mexico’s prison population was infected with HCV. In 2020 Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham allocated funding for HCV treatment of incarcerated people. In short, it’s working for example at the start of this program in January and March of 2021 the New Mexico corrections department had an 86% success rate in treating HCV. The continued pace of the New Mexico corrections department in treating HCV is making a difference in the state of New Mexico and in the lives of all new Mexicans whether incarcerated or not.

• ACLU of New Mexico – June 24, 2021
• New Mexico in Depth – January 16, 2020

2021 – Estate of Seryl Leroy Pomani v. Hughes County Jail et. al. – South Dakota – Settled for $850,000.00

Seryl Leroy Pomani, 30 years old, died in the custody of the Hughes County Jail after experiencing chronic health complications related to diabetes, hypertension, and asthma. Lawsuit was filed in the central division of the US District Court for the district of South Dakota. In this case it was clear that the jail staff were aware of his severe health conditions which needed immediate attention when he was booked in on July the 13th, 2018. Seryl’s blood sugar was very high, but the jail nurse left for the weekend and said she would evaluate him when she returned. Cyril’s health deteriorated rapidly but given the policy of the jail that only the nurse could approve medications, the staff did nothing. Cyril had his medications with him upon booking. On July the 16th Seryl was found unresponsive in his cell and died two days later at the hospital. The County upon settlement agreed to review all polices and procedures relating to healthcare to inmates and continue to review and make appropriate and necessary changes.

• The Associated Press – July 27, 2020

2021 Estate of David Prince, Jr. v. Deming, NM Police and Fire Department (EMS) – Settled for $400,00.00

This case involves the death of David Prince, Jr. on July 11, 2017, following the refusal of Deming, New Mexico EMS and Police Department personnel to take seriously his wife, Christina Prince’s, claims that he had taken twenty-eight (28) Hydrocodone pills and was going to overdose. Had the Defendants properly investigated, rendered any type of medical care, and taken David Prince to the hospital, David Prince would have lived.   This case presents a tragedy that resulted from a toxic blend of apathy and bad police and EMT/Fire Department training.  Plaintiff brought this Complaint for Wrongful Death as a result of Defendants’ negligence.

2021 – Estate of Jerimiah Valencia v. Santa Fe County, Santa Fe District Attorney Office, City of Santa Fe Police Department – Settled for $280,000.00

This lawsuit involving the tragic and preventable death of Jerimiah Valencia, 13 years old, was filed because, unfortunately, systemic change does not happen in New Mexico without long-term, transparent accountability. Jerimiah was fatally tortured and then buried in a shallow, roadside grave near Nambé. Jeremiah Valencia was abused and tortured for months. His injuries made it necessary for him to walk with a cane, he was beaten, drugged, starved, and locked in a dog crate daily in the weeks leading up to his death. Officials could have saved the boy if they had acted differently and followed the law at critical times before his death.

Ferguson, who had an extensive criminal history, was on probation at the time of Jeremiah’s death. He would have been incarcerated in late November 2017, but for a series of negligent acts by various officials, including the District Attorney’s Office (DA Serna) and law enforcement officers. Many of the missteps cited in the suit are well-documented in public records and have been reported as the case has proceeded through the courts. Ferguson pleaded guilty to a 2014 kidnapping and battery case involving a former girlfriend and was serving probation after a judge suspended his nine-year sentence. He pleaded guilty again to domestic violence in a 2015 Rio Rancho case. But prosecutors from Serna’s office didn’t tell a District Court judge in Santa Fe about the new conviction during an April 2016 hearing on a probation violation, the suit says, and Ferguson was allowed to remain out of jail. He later became involved with Peña. She had a history of drug addiction, according to the complaint, so Jeremiah and his sister lived with other family members from about 2011 to 2016. Then the children returned to their mother’s custody. They had been enrolled in schools in Las Vegas, N.M., but she removed them in February 2017, around the same time Ferguson entered their lives, the suit says. The School system did nothing to track the children’s move to a different school district or ensure they were enrolled or attending school. Ferguson and Peña moved with the children to Nambé the following summer, and he began to miss appointments with his probation officer, who hadn’t approved his move. He later provided the probation office with his Nambé address. Officers who tried to contact him there in June 2017 reported, however, that they had encountered large dogs in the yard and did not knock on the door. They never returned to the home. The state Probation and Parole Division listed Ferguson as an absconder and issued an arrest order that should have been entered into a national crime database in July 2017. But it wasn’t. A month later, when Ferguson failed to show up for a meeting with his probation officer, the division filed a probation violation report in state District Court, prompting a judge to order a bench warrant for his arrest Aug. 22, 2017, and directing the District Attorney’s Office to determine if a motion should be filed seeking revocation of Ferguson’s bond. But nothing happened for three months.

No investigation was done and no warrant was issued. In November 2017, another probation violation report was filed in Ferguson’s case, and a judge again ordered a warrant for his arrest. The warrant was not issued until January 2018 — three months after Jeremiah died. Serna acknowledged at one point that his office should have filed a motion to revoke Ferguson’s probation, saying, “It fell through the cracks. That’s why we’re changing our system. That’s why we need to change our process in our office.” Meanwhile, the owner of the Nambé property where the family had been living called law enforcement, prior to Jeremiah’s death, to report that she thought someone was living there without her permission. But the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office did not take any action on her calls. Likewise, neighbors of the Nambe property called police to report troubling behavior including gun fire. The police did not do anything to fully investigate, including running Ferguson’s name to see if he had any active warrants or was a felon in possession of a firearm despite numerous calls in a short period of time.  Days before Jeremiah’s death, Santa Fe police officers encountered Peña and Ferguson in a Walmart parking lot. They discovered there was a warrant out for Peña’s arrest, and they took her into custody. But they didn’t realize Ferguson also was being sought and failed to follow protocol on ensuring any children in her custody would be in safe care during her incarceration. In video footage of the incident, “Peña mentions her daughter several times to officers,” but they nonetheless wrote in their report that she was “not caring for any children” at the time of her arrest, the complaint says. Because the officers did not make note of Peña’s daughter, which might have led to a background check on Ferguson that would have revealed his past convictions, Jeremiah and his sister were left in Ferguson’s care while Peña was incarcerated. The agencies named in our lawsuit have made some progress in changing policies and procedures related to law enforcement identification of situations in which a child could be endangered. These changes include modifying how probation violations are handled and adjusting how warrants are entered into the National Crime Information Center database. But these incremental changes are not enough, not nearly enough, to ensure that what happened to Jeremiah Valencia never happens again.

The systemic problems that led to Jeremiah Valencia’s death are not due to a lack of resources. Rather, the problems are due to systematic violations of established policies, recklessly negligent training and supervision; and a lack of additional policies and procedures that, if they were in place, would save lives. Too often, our laws shield and protect government employees who, as a result of their acts/omissions, caused someone to die. This, in my view, is tantamount to a tacit approval of these negligent acts and omissions.

Jeremiah Valencia lived a tortured life. In all my years of practice and in all the time I spent pouring through the records of his life, I realized one thing, he wanted help. No one listened. It’s time we listen, and I hope by bringing this suit, his voice, his request, will finally be heard.

• Santa Fe New Mexican – September 25, 2022
• ABQ Journal – October 29, 2019
• Santa Fe New Mexican – September 15, 2018
• ABQ Journal – September 14, 2018
• KOB.com – September 14, 2018
• ABQ Journal – April 16, 2018

2012 – Lundstrom v. Romero, 616 F.3d 1108, 1118 (10th Cir. 2010)

CASE SUMMARY: Civil Rights Section 1983: Warrantless Entry, Illegal Seizure, and Excessive Force as well as State Law claims of Assault and Battery and Negligent Supervision, Retention, and Hiring.

PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Appellant arrestees sought review of a decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico, which granted summary judgment for appellee police officers on the basis of qualified immunity in the arrestees’ lawsuit alleging that they were unlawfully seized and the home belonging to one of them was unlawfully searched during a confrontation concerning a child welfare check, which was based on the officers’ response to a 911 call.

OVERVIEW: An officer knocked at the door and displayed a gun when the owner challenged her. The owner’s girlfriend stepped between the owner and the officer; when she exited the home, she was arrested and handcuffed without questioning. The owner was arrested and handcuffed when he stepped outside the home. He contended that the officers used unreasonable force, resulting in injuries, and searched his home before letting him go. On appeal, the court found that the officer effectuated a reasonable seizure in pointing a gun at the owner because she had a reasonable concern about her safety. The girlfriend was not illegally seized when she positioned herself between the owner and officer. However, handcuffing the girlfriend was not a reasonable seizure, and the owner’s seizure was not justified since at that time, the officers did not have a basis to believe he had done anything wrong, he did not pose a threat, and there were no exigent circumstances. The owner also sufficiently stated an unreasonable force claim and an unreasonable search. As these Fourth Amendment rights were clearly established, the officers were erroneously granted summary judgment on the basis of qualified immunity.

OUTCOME: The court concluded that for the most part, the officers were not entitled to qualified immunity and should not have been granted summary judgment. The court affirmed the district court’s qualified immunity decision regarding the seizures based on a display of a weapon at the home’s front door, but otherwise reversed the district court’s decision and remanded the case for further proceedings on the arrestees’ claims.

The case was set for trial and on April 20, 2012 a Federal Court Jury, after listening to testimony and reviewing the evidence presented, found in favor of Plaintiffs and awarded Joseph Lundstrom $100,000.00 in damages and Jane Hibner $75,000.00 in damages.

2008 – Canizales v. City of Albuquerque: Excessive Force

August 2008-The Albuquerque Journal
By Scott Sandlin

ALBUQUERQUE — Saul Canizales resigned as a State Police officer after a May 2005 confrontation outside a bar with off-duty Albuquerque Police Department officers led to battery charges. The charges were later dropped.

Canizales won another measure of vindication in federal court Thursday when a jury found the APD officers had wrongfully arrested him, used excessive force against him and violated his Fourth Amendment rights with malicious prosecution.

A civil jury hearing a lawsuit brought by Canizales against Sgt. Todd Armendariz, Officers Angelo Lovato and Shawn Willoughby and Sgt. Mark Garcia cleared Armendariz and found liability for the others.

The jury, which heard testimony before U.S. District Judge James O. Browning, awarded him a total of $35,000 in damages – $20,000 compensatory damages and $5,000 in punitives against each of the others.

Canizales was leaving the bar with a friend and fellow State Police officer when he became involved in a verbal exchange and found himself criminally charged by the APD officers.

Canizales was forced to resign his position and hire an attorney. Although the charges were dropped by the District Attorney’s Office, the media exposure of the incident made it difficult for him to find another job, said his attorney, Frances Crockett. “My client was wrongfully abused, detained, arrested, and as a result has suffered greatly at the hands of these officers who believe they are above the law,” she said when she filed the lawsuit in 2007.

Copyright 2008 The Albuquerque Journal

2007 – Delayo v. RCC (Private Prison)- Deliberate Indifference to Medical Care of Inmate

July 10, 2007 Albuquerque Tribune

A former detainee at the Regional Correctional Center is suing the private company that runs the Downtown Albuquerque lockup, saying he didn’t get adequate medical care after he fractured his jaw playing handball. According to his lawsuit, Robert Delayo hurt himself Jan. 1, 2006, and was taken to the Albuquerque Regional Medical Center, where he received X-rays that showed a fracture. A physician told him he should follow up with an oral surgeon within two or three days. It wasn’t until Jan. 27 that Delayo saw an oral surgeon, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque alleges Cornell Companies Inc., a former warden, and the head of the jail’s Health Services Center knew about Delayo’s condition but “made no effort to obtain adequate and timely medical treatment for Mr. Delayo.” The lawsuit also names Bernalillo County, which owns the jail and leases it to Cornell. Public Safety Director John Dantis said it’s up to Cornell to handle the claim. “The county’s response is that it’s a Cornell issue. They are the operators,” he said. Charles Seigel, a consultant for Cornell, said the company can’t comment on the case, but defended the jail’s health care. “We do provide an excellent health program, available to detainees in the facility,” he said. One of Delayo’s lawyers, Frances Crockett, said she has also heard other concerns about medical treatment at the lockup. “It seems to be an epidemic that’s going on around the country, and in part with the RCC, of prisoners not receiving adequate medical care,” she said. Delayo’s lawsuit says he suffered and continues to suffer extreme physical and mental pain from the injury. It also asks for monetary damages in an amount to be determined at trial, as well as lawyer’s fees. Crockett did not provide details of what led to Delayo’s incarceration. Federal court records show Robert Delayo, 43, was indicted in connection with a Jan. 25, 2005, bank robbery of the Wells Fargo Bank at 1800 Eubank Blvd. N.E. He later pleaded guilty to federal charges of use of a firearm during a crime and aiding and abetting.

Other attorneys, including some from the American Civil Liberties Union, have collected complaints from detainees about crowding, poor medical care and unsanitary conditions inside the jail. Bernalillo County, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement all have contracts to house detainees inside the facility at Fourth Street and Roma Avenue Northwest in Downtown. Cornell officials gave a tour of the jail earlier this month to two reporters, and defended the medical care, calling it “superb.” The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General also has its eye on the jail after a detainee of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in September died at an Albuquerque hospital while in the custody of the RCC. The ACLU has asked the federal government for more information about immigrant detainees who have died in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The group says 62 have died since 2004 and has filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking details.