A motion has been filed to suppress blood evidence in the drunken driving case of the former Montezuma County district attorney.
Defense attorney Arlon Stoker filed the motion on Feb. 17, stating that the results of a blood draw taken from Christian Hatfield after an Aug. 30, 2024, crash in San Juan County “are the fruit of an illegal warrant.”
Stoker asked the judge to throw out “any results of scientific testing and any testimony pertaining to any blood draw.”
According to the law enforcement report, “the results show that at the time of the blood draw, which was approximately eleven hours after the time of the crash due to medical issues, were 0.05 g/100 ml of Ethanol and 0.04 mg/L of Zolpidem (Ambien). Both Ethanol and Ambien are Central Nervous System Depressants.”
Hatfield was in a single-vehicle crash about 1 a.m. Aug. 30 on U.S. Highway 64 near County Road 5099 in Bloomfield, according to the motion and accident reports.
Hatfield “was seriously injured in the accident,” and was transported by ambulance to San Juan Regional Medical Center, according to the motion and accident reports.
The accident was investigated by San Juan County Sheriff’s deputy. Avery Killifer, who applied for a search warrant to draw Hatfield’s blood at 11:12 a.m. Aug. 30, which was more than “10 hours after the accident,” the motion states.
The search warrant for blood draw states that Hatfield was “unconscious” and unable to give consent, and that he had an “odor of an alcoholic beverage,” had “blood shot/watery eyes,” a “lack of dexterity” and an “open container in driver’s possession.”
The New Mexico State Police report says there was “an alcoholic beverage located on the front right passenger floorboard labeled Mexican lager,” and there was a “pill bottle with several pills inside next to this open container.” It was labeled Ambien and was prescribed to Hatfield.
The search warrant, which Stoker alleges is “illegal” was signed by Magistrate Russel Bradford.
Stoker states in the motion that the search warrant for blood sample was issued in violation of New Mexico State Statute 66-8-11, and therefore the “search was unlawful.”
Under the law a “search warrant for a blood draw from a DWI suspect” can only be approved by a judge if there is “probable cause that the suspect caused great bodily harm or death of another while driving while intoxicated,” or if there is “probable cause that the suspect committed a felony while intoxicated,” according to the motion.
Hatfield was charged with a first DWI, which is a misdemeanor offense in New Mexico, and while he was the only person in the vehicle at the time of the single-vehicle crash, according to the affidavit for arrest warrant and police reports.
Stoker argues in the motion that deputy. Killifer “failed to allege any circumstances required by 66-8-11, and none of the required circumstances were present, the warrant should be quashed and the test results excluded from evidence.”
Stoker further questions the reliability of the test results stating that Hatfield had been in the hospital for nearly 11 hours prior to the blood draw, and medical staff had treated him with such chemical substances as “Fentanyl, Midazolam and Zolpidem,” which are “narcotics and hypnotics” that affect “the metabolism of alcohol.”
Because of the “lapse of time and medical procedures,” Stoker says there are questions about the tests “reliability and relevance,” so he asks the evidence be suppressed.
A hearing in the Hatfield case is set for 9 a.m. Feb. 24 at the McKinley County Courthouse with District Judge R. David Pederson presiding.
