From ABQJournalOnline
District Attorney Angela “Spence” Pacheco of Santa Fe has apologized for letting prosecution of a longtime repeat DWI offender — we’re talking eight convictions since the early 1980s — fall through the cracks.
Pacheco says she’s “upset and embarrassed,” even “sick” about her office dropping the ball on the case against John Paul Chavez, who was arrested on aggravated DWI charges last December. And so she should be.
A state district judge dismissed the case last month because no prosecutor ever showed up in court.
Chavez has since renewed his ongoing relationship with law enforcement, although he wasn’t charged with DWI. He was arrested at 2 a.m. Sunday for driving without a valid driver’s license — he hasn’t had one since it was suspended in the early 1980s.    …MORE