Katherine Lewin
The prosecutor in charge of seven of the eight cases flowing from the partial takedown of the Plaza obelisk on Indigenous Peoples Day wants to make sure everyone is "on the same page."
Assistant District Attorney Richard Wilson has called a meeting with the lawyers representing the eight defendants in this "rare" situation. Kitren Fischer, who represents one of the accused, tells SFR she originally suggested the meeting to give everyone access to the same information.
There is no set date or time.
"Of course, every case is different, but they're almost exactly the same, and so it's just rare that we do that," Wilson tells SFR. "Traditionally I would call up the attorneys anyway to talk about the cases prior…I wanted to make sure that I wasn't telling everybody different things. Specifically, I'm not going to lie, I kind of forget who I told stuff and who I haven't and so we just wanted to set up a meeting with all counsel on the case."
It's not clear whether a large-scale deal is on the table that would effectively end the high-profile prosecutions, though Wilson says he expects some of the attorneys might suggest directions the cases and potential deals could take. Wilson doesn't yet know what deal he might offer or what his boss, District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies, would approve.
News of the meeting comes after the second setback in the case against Sean Sunderland, who is the only one of the eight defendants not facing a felony and whose case is overseen by the Santa Fe Police Department. SFPD Officer Jesse Campbell didn't appear for a hearing in Sunderland's case, resulting in its dismissal. Judge Donita Sena then put it back on the docket when it could not be determined whether the Santa Fe County Magistrate Court had properly notified Campbell of the hearing date.
The second miscue arose earlier this week after Campbell failed to file a witness list on time and didn't respond to a motion seeking exclusion of witness testimony, lawyer Kitren Fischer tells SFR. Sena has ruled that no witness testimony will be allowed as a result of the gaffe, potentially setting the case on a course for dismissal or acquittal.
The sixth person charged, downtown gallery owner Stephen Fox, appeared virtually in Magistrate Court on Wednesday morning in front of Judge John Rysanek. The judge appointed public defender Marcus Lucero to represent Fox, 72, who promptly offered to pay $1,025 "to compensate the city for the ostensible damage to the obelisk" so as to resolve his case "amicably without taking up the court's time."
Rysanek quickly stopped Fox from speaking more and reminded him that, as a judge, he could not know about potential plea negotiations.
Fox, charged with criminal damage to property (over $1,000), conspiracy to commit criminal damage and unlawful assembly, received an extension on his case until late February. He described his involvement in tugging on the rope that eventually pulled down part of the obelisk as "a moment's action."
"I really want to get this out of the way as expeditiously and amicably and fairly as possible," Fox said. "I don't really think that it should be lumped in with the other defendants."
They are: Sunderland, Dylan Wrobel, Ryan Witt, Lily Schweitzer, Lauren Straily, Melissa Rose and Dawn Furlong—facing a range of charges from unlawful assembly to battery on a peace officer and have court hearings scheduled in late February and early March.
For his part, Fox is scheduled back in court on Feb. 24 after Lucero convinced him to accept an extension on Wednesday to handle the massive amount of video and other evidence in the case.
