NM Supreme Court grants stay to consider juror issue in Lunsford case
In February, former Las Cruces Police officer Lunsford was convicted of voluntary manslaughter with a firearm enhancement for the Aug. 2, 2022, shooting death of Presley Eze.
Following his conviction, Lunsford retained new counsel and filed a series of post-trial motions.
In one of those motions, the defendant claimed that they had discovered new evidence of bias from the jury foreperson.
The Attorney General's Office said the defense motion, while not naming the juror, made it easy to identify them and subject them to a social media campaign of harassment.
According to court documents obtained by KTSM, Lunsford's wife and 'other interested parties' began a social media campaign against the juror, accusing them of 'disgusting and blatant bias,' being a Black Lives Matter activist and lying to 'infiltrate' the jury.
Lunsford has been released from jail while some of the defense motions, including this one, are resolved.
The state AG's Office said it has filed several motions to protect the juror, who has been subpoenaed to testify during a public hearing.
Tuesday's Supreme Court ruling comes after the New Mexico Department of Justice filed an amended petition to 'seek emergency relief to prevent further juror intimidation and safeguard the integrity of the judicial process,' the state AG's Office said.
'America's jury system demands that officers of the court maintain their commitment to a fair and equal application of the law, without regard to a citizen's political beliefs,' Attorney General Raul Torrez said.
'Parties to a criminal case are afforded, as they were in this case, the opportunity to probe potential jurors for any potential bias and to strike a juror for cause based upon the record. What is not allowed is an ideological witch hunt to discredit a juror's service because a party does not like a verdict. That's what's happening in this case, and we appreciate the Supreme Court's order to stay the underlying proceeding in order to protect the rule of law and ensure that no citizen who has fulfilled their civic responsibility is unfairly smeared because of their constitutionally protected beliefs.'
The Supreme Court's order halts further District Court proceedings related to the juror who served in the Lunsford trial, the AG's Office said.
That includes an April 4 hearing where Lunsford was scheduled to appear, the NM Attorney General's Office said.
We will continue to follow this case both on air and online.
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