Copyright 2004 Albuquerque Journal


By: Rene Romo Journal Southern Bureau


But Jury Says Cops Didn't Violate Rights

A federal court jury on Monday awarded a former Hobbs resident $580,000 in damages in a civil rights case stemming from a 1996 police stop the plaintiff claimed was racially motivated.

The eight-member jury found that two Hobbs police officers, Rodney Porter and former Sgt. Walter Roye, conducted an illegal search of Jimmie Marshall, a 58-year-old electrician now living in Ruidoso, when they obtained a blood sample from him without his permission and without a warrant following a Dec. 26, 1996, traffic stop.

The jury, however, did not agree with Marshall's claim that his equal-protection rights were violated by the traffic stop that Marshall said was racially motivated.

Marshall claimed Porter only tried to stop him after determining Marshall was black and then used a racial slur during the arrest -- a claim Porter denied.

Porter and Roye maintained that Marshall agreed to provide a blood sample for drug testing but refused to give his written authorization. Marshall passed two breath tests to determine if he had an illegal amount of alcohol in his system during the traffic stop that prompted a two-mile police pursuit.

Porter sought additional tests because police said they found a marijuana bud in the motorist's car. A blood test found a trace amount of marijuana.

Marshall on the witness stand adamantly said he never agreed, orally or in writing, to give a blood sample.

''the verdict goes a long way in showing none of the actions taken by the officers were race-based, and that was a major part of the claim and has to be seen as a major victory for the officers of the city,'' said Tony Knott, former police chief and current member of the state Gaming Control Board, who said he was speaking for himself and not the Hobbs Police Department.

All claims against Knott in his personal capacity were dismissed last week. Knott, who was named as chief in early 1997, was second-in-command of the Hobbs Police Department at the time of Marshall's stop in late 1996.

After deliberating for a day and a half, the jury awarded Marshall $390,000 in compensatory and punitive damages for Porter's actions, and $190,000 in compensatory and punitive damages for Roye's actions.

The case is the latest in a series of suits or complaints alleging Hobbs police officers have engaged in discriminatory behavior against black residents since an October 1996 disturbance between police and black residents at a Hobbs High School homecoming football game.

In an extension of a 2001 settlement of a class-action civil rights lawsuit last spring, a federal judge ordered Hobbs police to continue self-monitoring contacts with racial minorities through June 2005.