Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
MANAGING EDITOR
After a full day of testimony from seven different witnesses, Judge Stephen Quinn declared a mistrial Wednesday morning for the Marvin Silva murder trial.
Silva, 40, is accused of bashing Portales resident Marco Bonilla, 25, over the head with a hammer on Nov. 23, 2009, after Bonilla had been stabbed through the ribs by another man in a street fight six years ago.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Brian Stover said Wednesday the issue for mistrial was over the testimony of the pathologist, who conducted Bonilla’s autopsy.
Stover said both pathologists who worked the case had moved from the region, and that his office originally thought they had tracked one of the individuals down to testify but discovered the person had been deployed overseas with the military.
Stover said his office arranged for a substitute to testify, but defense attorney Gary Mitchell demanded to confront the original pathologists.
“The original pathologist is extremely important, because that is the person who actually made the observations and conducted the testings,” Mitchell said after the mistrial. “Somebody else looking at the evidence is not as relevant. Anyone looking at those same records without looking at the body cannot make the same important observations that would be important to the defense.”
Quinn denied Mitchell’s motion, but it then came to light that Mitchell had never subpoenaed the two pathologists; only the state had.
Stover said the judge determined the trial should be reset out of respect for the defendant’s rights since the defense had never had the opportunity to carry out the subpoena.
Stover said had the trial continued, the state would have put four witnesses on the stand Wednesday and rested their case.
“It’s very frustrating what took place today,” Stover said. “Any time we’re balancing the rights of the defendant against the rights of the victim’s family, it is frustrating, but we remain committed to holding this person accountable.”
Stover said there is no way to reset the trial with Quinn before he retires in a month. He estimated it would be at least four to six months to set a new trial.
