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The blood:

Albuquerque Police Officer Daniel Webster died from his wounds last week after being shot during a traffic arrest.

Rio Rancho Police Officer Gregg Benner was shot and killed during a traffic stop in Rio Rancho last May.

Albuquerque Officer Lou Golson was seriously wounded from multiple gunshots in early January.

In each case, the suspect had prior violent felony convictions and had served time in state prison.

In another case that outraged the community, the man who allegedly shot and killed 4-year-old Lilly Garcia during a road rage incident once faced a previous road rage charge, but it was dropped.

The numbers:

New Mexico has the second-highest violent crime rate per 100,000 population in the country, according to FBI reports.

Yet New Mexico sends fewer people to prison on a per capita basis than the neighboring states of Texas, Arizona, Colorado and Oklahoma.

And New Mexico’s prison inmates return to prison after release at a higher rate than in those same states.

At the same time, the number of officers on the street in Albuquerque is 865, well below the number city officials believe necessary, while the city works to revamp the department under the oversight of a federal court monitor after the Department of Justice found APD had a culture of using excessive and deadly force.

The state Supreme Court has also shaken up the state court system in Bernalillo County, imposing new speedy trial deadlines that have caused hundreds of felony cases to be dismissed and have reaffirmed bail guidelines that make it more difficult to keep defendants locked up prior to trial.

The court is now supporting a constitutional amendment that would allow judges to hold defendants without bond if they are found to be a serious threat to the public’s safety.

Meanwhile, the confluence of the blood, the numbers and the legal issues appears to be reaching critical mass.

“I think the good people of Albuquerque are really tired of the effect that these repeat offenders are having on our community,” Albuquerque Police Chief Gorden Eden said. “Our officers encounter people every single night, and you can count them on one hand, there are certain nights you can count them on two hands, where we’re re-arresting the same people over and over and over again.”

Risk to public safety

The United States Attorney’s Office has stepped in to try to keep the “Worst of the Worst” off the streets. It has brought charges against the suspects in the shootings of Webster, Benner and Golson, and is canvassing local law enforcement agencies for cases in which tough federal sentencing laws can get repeat offenders off the street.

“The death of officer Benner brought to light how overwhelmed the state system is,” U.S. Attorney Damon Martinez said. “We had to do something.”

For example, Martinez’s office charged Davon Lyman for being a felon in possession of a firearm in connection with the shooting death of APD officer Webster.

That was a move to give District Attorney Kari Brandenburg’s office and local police time to gather evidence in Webster’s killing so the state can bring charges.

Martinez’s office also charged the suspects in the shootings of Golson and Benner with federal firearms violations and other charges that not only kept them locked up with no bonds, but can also result in long federal prison sentences.

Martinez said that, since the “worst of the worst” program began in New Mexico in 2011, federal prosecutors are becoming more aggressive in trying to help local police and prosecutors get violent offenders off the street.

Last week, in a strongly worded statement, Brandenburg blamed the new Supreme Court rules to speed up trials in the Second Judicial District for allowing the two men accused of killing officers Benner and Webster to be out on the street.

Brandenburg said, “I believe this new rule has resulted in a risk to public safety and I am greatly concerned about the human costs.”

A spokesman for the Supreme Court called Brandenburg’s statements “misplaced and misleading.”

Artie Pepin, director of the Administrative Office of the Courts, said that Brandenburg’s office could have refiled any of the cases dismissed under the new rule once her office had enough evidence to move forward.

But there is a time lag between the dismissal and refiling of charges that can leave dangerous criminal suspects free without court supervision.

The new rules require prosecutors to have enough evidence on hand when they file charges to move forward to trial and requires that evidence be turned over to defense attorneys within a short time of arraignment – the actual time involved depends on whether the defendant is in custody or free on bond.

One of the reasons for the new rules was to reduce the overcrowding at the Metropolitan Detention Center, which was due in large part to defendants remaining in jail for long periods of time awaiting trial. They have been effective in that area.

Pepin said, “No one can reliably predict heinous conduct that has such terrible consequences. We can, however, working together, pursue solutions that will improve public safety within constitutional limits.”

In the meantime, Attorney General Hector Balderas has offered to lend Brandenburg a veteran prosecutor to help prosecute repeat offenders, because of the problems caused by the speedy trial rules and Supreme Court bail bond ruling.

Two different systems

Repeat offenders don’t have to kill or shoot police officers to cause chaos or terror on the streets of Albuquerque.

Some are burglars or armed robbers or car thieves.

There are two different definitions of repeat offenders.

The most common is for a person who goes to prison, gets out and commits more crimes.

The second is the cop-on-the-street definition in which officers lock somebody up on charges and the suspect gets out of jail within 24 hours, either by posting a bail bond or being released on their own recognizance.

Kevin Folse, 30, whose street name is “Criminal,” met both those definitions. On July 2, he embarked on a crime spree that finally landed him in the federal system.

Folse had previously been convicted and had served time in state prison for receiving or transferring a stolen vehicle, marijuana trafficking, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

In April of this year, he was charged in state court with multiple counts of identity theft and fraud between $500 and $2,500. He bonded out of jail.

In late May, he was arrested again for receiving or transferring a stolen vehicle and again he bonded out of jail.

On July 2, Folse went on the daylong violent crime spree during which he terrorized a group of hostages at one residence and a teenager at another.

On that day, police were looking for him in connection with yet another stolen car, when they received information that he was at an associate’s house in the Northeast Heights.

When police arrived, no one answered the door. Inside, Folse realized what was happening and held the occupants hostage, then fled with two of them, hijacking their car.

He led police on a tense chase through a residential neighborhood that ended when he crashed the silver Saturn sedan and rolled the car.

Folse escaped on foot, leaving the hostages behind.

He then ordered a 13-year-old boy passenger out of a Kia Sorento that was warming up in a driveway near Chelwood Park and Turquoise NE.

He ditched that car near the I-40 overpass at San Pedro and again escaped on foot, causing police to close the campus of Wayland Baptist University near San Pedro and Indian School NE.

Uniformed officers, detectives and SWAT scoured the area, but Folse managed to escape.

He was finally arrested the next night by Isleta Pueblo Police at the Isleta Casino without incident.

In federal court, justice was swift.

He was charged in U.S. District Court on a criminal complaint on July 6 and was held without bond. An indictment soon followed.

After a four-day trial in early October, a federal jury deliberated for four hours to return a verdict of guilty on carjacking and firearms charges against Folse.

Folse faces a potential sentence of life in prison.

His case highlights how different the federal system is from the state one. His criminal history, and the charges of carjacking and brandishing a firearm during the crime, defined Folse as a danger to the community, making him ineligible for pretrial release in federal court.

But the state constitution allows state judges to consider only whether someone is a flight risk when deciding bond, although state rules do allow judges to consider a defendant’s past criminal history.

U.S. Attorney Damon Martinez said Folse “will no longer menace our community.”

Eden said Folse “terrorized the people of Albuquerque for years as a violent repeat offender who has continuously made his way back onto the streets … . Folse will no longer be able to victimize the innocent people in Albuquerque.”

Changes proposed

In the wake of recent events that have shocked the state, there is a growing chorus demanding changes to protect the public from such predators.

And there are specific suggestions on the table.

Mayor Richard Berry has proposed a series of changes – ranging from allowing retired officers to come back to the force and keep their pensions to rewriting new speedy trial rules to give prosecutors more time to turn over evidence to criminal defendants and their attorneys.

Political and judicial leaders have also come forward with suggestions.

Some of the changes will require legislative action and appropriation. Others will build off existing law enforcement programs. And still others will require the state Supreme Court to issue new court rules.

“We have to change our laws,” Police Chief Gorden Eden said immediately after Webster was shot and while he was still battling for his life. “The scales of justice are out of balance.”