Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities

Trial for man accused in police shooting on hold

PORTALES — The trial of a Portales man accused of shooting a police officer has been put on hold to give attorneys a chance to negotiate.

Anthony Ortega, 29, was arrested in April following a physical altercation with a Portales police officer in which Ortega allegedly attempted to grab the officer’s gun, causing the weapon to discharge in its holster and shoot the officer in the leg.

Ortega was charged with aggravated battery, disarming a peace officer and resisting, evading or obstructing an officer.

Ortega’s trial date was set for Feb. 8, but District Judge Donna Mowrer moved the case to the next docket with time counting against the state since they did not put in an order of transport to have Ortega brought back to Portales from Santa Fe for the morning’s docket call. Ortega was moved to the Department of Corrections in Santa Fe and given an additional charge for trying to escape the Roosevelt County Detention Center a short time after his arrest in April.

Assistant District Attorney Jake Boazman told Mowrer on Wednesday that he inherited the case from District Attorney Andrea Reeb, so he wanted time to discuss possible plea agreements with Ortega’s attorney, Tye Harmon.

The case for another Portales man charged with drug trafficking was also put on hold Wednesday as Mowrer vacated Antonio Trae Salguero’s Feb. 8 trial date and moved his case to the next docket.

Boazman and public defender Chris Christensen both agreed that time was needed to hear Christensen’s motion to dismiss, as well as for Boazman to file a possible plea agreement in the case.

Salguero, 30, was one of several people arrested on drug trafficking charges in April 2016 in a drug sting by the Roosevelt County Sheriff’s Office.