State of New Mexico v. William Smith

Albuquerque, New Mexico defendant was charged with two counts of first-degree murder.



Smith met Cari Talton, age 26, and Leslie McDonnell, age 18, on August 8 at a party at Smith's house.



On August 12, 1977, the bodies of Talton and McDonnell were found in a corral near Mountainair in Torrance County, New Mexico. Both women had been shot to death with a shotgun. Autopsies indicated that the women had been dead for a short time.



The rancher who owned the corral and found the bodies said that he visited the corral regularly and would have noticed the bodies if they had been there when he last visited on August 9th.



An autopsy revealed that they had been dead for two to three days. Talton was naked and her clothes were gone. McDonnell was fully clothed except for shoes.



The Torrance County Sheriff's Office and the New Mexico State Police opened an investigation. Albuquerque police began their own investigation when they learned the women were from Albuquerque in Bernalillo County.



The Albuquerque police investigation focused on Smith, after McDonnell's mother received an anonymous tip saying that Smith had been angry because he believed McDonnell and Talton had stolen some of his drugs.



The Albuquerque police found a witness who said that Smith had asked to store a shotgun with friends on August 13. They recovered the gun and found a witness who said that when Smith dropped off the gun, he said, "he had been burned and the people had been punished.”



There was no physical evidence linking Smith to the murders—the gun could not be matched to pellets removed from the women's bodies.



Smith had solid alibis for his whereabouts beginning on August 10, but not on August 9. The prosecution presented testimony from an entomologist who gave an opinion that the women were killed on August 9.



Randy Newell testified that the last time he saw Talton was on the afternoon of August 8th



A physician who gave Talton methadone doses said she came to the clinic on the morning of August 9th.



The owner of a restaurant testified that he remembered two women who fit the descriptions of Talton and McDonnell in his restaurant on August 10.



On August 14, Newell was stopped near the area where the bodies were found. When officers asked to search his trunk, he said he did not have a key and was released.



On August 18, Nowell was involved in a collision with a semi-tractor trailer near the site of the murders. Police found a white plastic bag in the rear of the vehicle containing women's clothes that were damp, smelled of mildew and appearing to be stained with blood. The clothing was turned over to the New Mexico State police crime laboratory, but never tested. It was later sent to the Albuquerque police crime lab, but again no tests were performed. The clothing was later destroyed. The clothing was seized and a report was written saying that Newell was a suspect in the murders. The report said that Newell was jealous over Talton's sexual activity.



On August 19, 1977, Smith was arrested and charged with the murders in Bernalillo County.



The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the prosecution had failed to disclose exculpatory evidence to the defense relating to the Torrance County investigation.





The concealed evidence also included the fact that Randy Newell was really Samuel Newell, but was using a false name because he had prior burglary convictions in Kansas and he was a fugitive on another charge—information that could have been used to impeach his testimony. Moreover, the prosecution did not disclose the fact that Newell owned a shotgun.



The court noted that during a post-conviction hearing, the witness who had originally testified that Smith said "he had been burned and the people had been punished,” recanted, saying that Smith had only said he had been burned.





Bylsma testified that he was with Smith when Smith shot-gunned the women to death in the corral. Bylsma admitted that he had reached an agreement to obtain probation on gun charges that were pending against him in exchange for testifying against Smith.



The defense called two experts in forensic pathology who testified that the women were dead no earlier than the evening of August 10.



The State of New Mexico tried Smith for the kidnapping and murder of two women. The trial court declared a mistrial due to the jury's inability to reach a unanimous verdict. In 1978, a second jury acquitted Smith of the kidnapping charges, but convicted him of two counts of first degree murder. The trial judge sentenced Smith to two consecutive terms of life imprisonment. On appeal, the New Mexico Supreme Court affirmed Smith's convictions.



In 1983, Smith, through new counsel, filed a motion for post-conviction relief in the state trial court claiming, inter alia, that the prosecution had failed to disclose exculpatory evidence in violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963). The court denied his motion in February 1984, and Smith filed a state petition for a writ of habeas corpus in May 1984. The state trial court summarily dismissed the petition in 1987, and the New Mexico Supreme Court denied review. In 1988, Smith filed a federal petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 2254. The federal district court dismissed Smith's petition with prejudice, and Smith appealed.



On March 7, 1995, the Tenth Circuit held that the prosecution had failed to disclose several pieces of relevant material exculpatory evidence, thereby violating Smith's constitutional due process right to a fair trial. The vacated Smith's conviction and remanded the case to the district court. We instructed the district court on remand "to enter an order directing the State of New Mexico, within ninety (90) days of the entry of that order, to either grant Mr. Smith a new trial or, in the alternative, to order his permanent release from custody." Id.



On February 19, 1999, Smith filed suit pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 1983, seeking compensatory and punitive damages for defendants' violations of his constitutional rights. The Federal District Court for the District of New Mexico ruled that Smith's claim for damages was barred by the statute of limitation because he could have sued in 1983. The 10th Circuit affirmed.

On October 17, 1977, the jury deadlocked 11 to 1 in favor of conviction and a mistrial was declared. Smith was tried again and convicted of two counts of first degree murder on February 4, 1978. On March 5, 1978, four days before Smith was sentenced, Newell died of a drug overdose. Smith was sentenced to two terms of life in prison.



After his conviction was upheld on appeal and motions for a new trial were rejected, Smith filed a federal petition for a writ of habeas corpus. A U.S. District Court judge denied the petition, but in March 1995, the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed the conviction.



In November 1995, Smith went on trial for a third time. The prosecution called Harvey Bylsma, who had originally been indicted with Smith in 1977, but the charges were dismissed.



The State of New Mexico granted Smith a new trial and tried him for a third time. The jury could not reach a unanimous verdict, and the trial court once again declared a mistrial.



On December 14, 1995, the jury deadlocked 11 to 1 in favor of acquittal and a mistrial was declared. On April 21, 1996, the charges were dismissed and Smith was released. Smith later filed a federal civil rights suit seeking damages, but the lawsuit was dismissed after a federal judge ruled it was filed too late.



On April 21, 1996, New Mexico state prosecutors filed a nolle prosequi indicating that they would not prosecute Smith's case further. The State released Smith from prison on the same day.