Nunez trial held

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The February trial for a Portales man accused of child molestation has been cancelled for the time being as evidence has not been released by local law enforcement.

Marco Nunez, 38, was arrested in April 2015, then again in June, for charges of criminal sexual contact and penetration of a minor under 13 years old as well as unlawful exhibition of motion pictures to minors.

According to an arrest affidavit, Nunez allegedly inappropriately touched and penetrated three children on multiple occasions in his home with multiple incidents of the children seeing “nasty stuff” on his computer.

A motion hearing was held Tuesday in which Judge Donna Mowrer and Defense Attorney Jennifer Burrill both expressed concerns that the grand jury indictment for the case was filed in May, and nothing has happened since.

Burrill asked for Nunez’ charges to be dismissed, because the nine-month wait for computer and other electronic evidence should be considered as “failure to prosecute” by the state.

“It’s getting a little frustrating that the state’s unaware what’s on their evidence they’ve collected,” Burrill said, adding that not only has the evidence not been turned over to her after she requested it in June, but she has not been told anything about the electronic evidence, such as whether there is any pornography on it or not.

Prosecutor Jake Boazman countered that, by law, complex cases have up to 18 months to begin with the trial process, and Nunez’ case has not yet reached its year mark.

Boazman explained to the judge that much of the delay with the evidence that has not been handed over is due to the Roosevelt County Sheriff’s Office deputy who was in charge of the case having left the sheriff’s office, and the case was not reassigned to someone else.

He added that two computers and a cell phone were also never sent off to the forensics lab, an issue he said the sheriff’s office has reassured him will be remedied this week.

“The state is just as frustrated at the delay in having the computer sent,” Boazman said.

Mowrer canceled the Feb. 9 trial, telling attorneys that a new motion hearing will be scheduled for a later date. She also ruled that an official court order be given to the sheriff’s office regarding releasing evidence.

Boazman said after the hearing that sheriff’s office officials have told him all evidence should be available to be turned over to the D.A.’s office no later than Monday.