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Man accused in shooting faces drug charges

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A man accused of shooting a Clovis police officer earlier this year is also facing unrelated charges from 2015 in which he is accused of drug possession and assault on a peace officer.

Anthony M. Baca, 34, was in court on Tuesday asking evidence in the 2015 case be suppressed. Judge Fred Van Soelen said he would review the arguments and make a ruling as soon as possible.

Baca’s attorney, Brett Carter, argued a Clovis Police Department patrolman who stopped Baca had no definitive reason to detain him and ask for his identification while on patrol Nov. 30, 2015.

A check of Baca’s name, CPD patrolman Daniel Casarez testified, revealed an outstanding warrant, which led to a scuffle, Baca’s arrest and a post-arrest search that produced a gun and narcotics.

According to Casarez’ testimony:

• Casarez was patrolling alone on the graveyard shift on the morning in question. In briefings at the beginning of recent shifts, supervisors indicated a spike in burglaries between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m.

• Casarez was traveling along Eighth Street when he saw two people in dark clothing and backpacks walking in the area of Gidding and Axtell streets. He saw the two walk rapidly and cut through a duplex, and drove to Sheldon Street to head them off.

• He exited his patrol unit, explained the reason he was talking to them and asked for identification.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Brian Stover, appearing for the state, asked Casarez why he had stopped the two people. Casarez responded that it was the combination of dark clothing and backpacks, their unusual walking and the general spike in burglaries.

Carter asked Casarez if he were investigating a specific burglary case, or if he had a specific call about a burglary that evening. Casarez said no to both questions.

Carter read numerous cases setting precedent about the detainment of a citizen by asking for identification. Case law, Carter said, repeatedly declines to put an officer’s “generalized hunch” above a citizen’s presumed innocence.

It wasn’t a crime, Carter said, to walk, wear dark clothing, possess a backpack or walk in a path an officer finds unusual.

Stover countered Carter was trying to argue that a detainment required probable cause, when it only required reasonable suspicion.

“The officer,” Stover said, “had a reasonable suspicion that criminal activity was afoot.”

A ruling for the defense would essentially wipe out the case, but would not get Baca out of the Curry County Detention Center due to other pending cases:

• Aggravated assault and shoplifting

• Trafficking, robbery, aggravated battery, receiving stolen property, possession of a controlled substance and conspiracy to commit robbery

• Possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia

• Aggravated battery upon a peace officer, assault with intent to commit a violent felony on a peace officer and resisting arrest.

In the aggravated battery case, Officer Chris Caron was treated and released from the Clovis hospital after suffering a gunshot wound to his left thigh on Aug. 29.

 
 
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