Hobbs police officer testifies in civil rights lawsuit
Rodney Porter, a Hobbs police officer accused of violating a man's rights testified he lied repeatedly to his supervisors in the mid-1990s about failing to file evidence in criminal cases as an officer in Midland, Texas. Porter was the first witness Monday in the federal court trial of a civil rights lawsuit filed by Jimmie Marshall, 58, an electrician now living in Ruidoso, against Porter, Hobbs police Sgt. Walter Royce and former Chief Tony Knott. The lawsuit alleges Porter violated Marshall's rights to equal protection and to be free from unreasonable search and seizure in a December 1996 arrest. Marshall, who is black, contends the traffic stop was racially based. Marshall contends Porter stopped him without just cause, accused him of being on crack cocaine and obtained a blood sample without his consent after Marshall passed a breath test. [
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