{"id":11764,"date":"2017-09-29T11:31:52","date_gmt":"2017-09-29T18:31:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/?p=11764"},"modified":"2020-06-02T09:48:51","modified_gmt":"2020-06-02T16:48:51","slug":"former-u-s-attorney-offers-few-answers-on-controversial-atf-sting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/former-u-s-attorney-offers-few-answers-on-controversial-atf-sting\/","title":{"rendered":"Former U.S. Attorney offers few answers on controversial ATF sting"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JQNV6y9ZY_4\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nBy Jeff Proctor, New Mexico In Depth<\/p>\n<p>Damon Martinez says he would take \u201cseriously\u201d allegations of racial profiling and other questionable tactics alleged about a four-month federal drug and gun sting operation last year if he were still U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>But he won\u2019t say how he viewed his responsibilities for the operation while in the job, which he held until March of this year.<\/p>\n<p>He won\u2019t even say whether his former job would have included oversight of the increasingly controversial sting operation despite U.S. Department of Justice manuals describing some of those responsibilities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t discuss the facts concerning this case,\u201d Martinez said of the 2016 operation, conducted largely by the federal bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF).<\/p>\n<p>More than half a dozen times during an interview with New Mexico In Depth and New Mexico in Focus, Martinez claimed a host of restrictions that he said barred him from answering most questions \u2014 even those involving his opinion \u2014 about the operation.<\/p>\n<p>In 39 minutes of questioning, Martinez divulged little about the sting and offered few direct answers.<\/p>\n<p><em>Watch the full interview here:<\/em><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"850\" height=\"477\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tNaF-gKyhD8?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The interview came after nearly two months of negotiations with Martinez, the first current or former federal official to agree to sit down for an extensive interview about the operation, which has been the subject of a multipart series by NMID and featured in <a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/2017\/05\/22\/federal-public-defender-in-america-people-of-color-have-been-labeled-with-a-broad-brush\/\">two<\/a> NMIF <a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/2017\/06\/27\/black-leaders-call-for-more-communication-between-city-and-community\/\">segments<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Officials from ATF and the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office over the past five months have repeatedly refused requests for interviews and information about the sting.<\/p>\n<p>Martinez was ousted from his job in March by President Donald Trump and is now working for one of the state\u2019s largest law firms, Albuquerque-based Modrall Sperling.<\/p>\n<p>The NMID investigation has found that ATF used <a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/2017\/05\/15\/atf-used-traveling-well-paid-informants-in-abq-sting\/\">paid, professional \u201cconfidential informants\u201d<\/a> who employed questionable tactics to target and arrest 103 people, including a <a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/2017\/05\/07\/feds-sting-ensnared-many-abq-blacks-not-worst-of-the-worst\/\">highly disproportionate number of black people<\/a>. Hispanics were overrepresented among those arrested, too, while whites were grossly underrepresented.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/nmif-1113-ATF-2016-opereation-racial-distribution-.png\" alt=\"\"><\/center><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/2017\/08\/23\/boyfriends-betrayal-abq-woman-jailed-after-atf-informant-lured-her-into-drug-deals\/\">In one case<\/a>, an ATF informant is alleged to have lured a woman who was trying to recover from heroin addiction at a state-funded halfway house into a sexual relationship, then two drug deals before agents arrested her.<\/p>\n<p>And in most cases, those arrested were not the violent felons trafficking in large quantities of drugs and guns federal officials said they were after, NMID found.<\/p>\n<p>Among the looming questions is how ATF chose Albuquerque as the ninth city where it would conduct an \u201cEnhanced Enforcement Initiative\u201d operation. One of the the agents who led the Albuquerque sting testified in a federal court hearing in April that \u201cindividuals with political power\u201d invited the agency to the city to tackle its skyrocketing crime.<\/p>\n<p>Citing \u201cinternal communications,\u201d Martinez would not say whether he was involved in the invitation or how he came to learn about the ATF\u2019s enforcement program.<\/p>\n<p>But his successor, Acting U.S. Attorney James Tierney, told black community leaders in a meeting last month that he and Martinez had asked the agency to come to Albuquerque, according to two people who attended the meeting.<\/p>\n<p>Tierney, who served as Martinez\u2019s top deputy in the office before ascending to the top spot this spring, \u201ctold us, \u2018We initiated it; it didn\u2019t come from Washington,\u2019\u201d Eric Nixon of the Sankofa Men\u2019s Leadership Exchange said in an interview. \u201cHe said they brought ATF in because they had done this type of operation before. They shopped for it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tierney would not answer questions for this story.<\/p>\n<p>Martinez hinted at some of what led federal prosecutors on their search for a plan, pointing out that, by the time the ATF operation began, the Albuquerque Police Department was down 100 officers from mid-1990s levels. The city\u2019s population, he said, had grown by 150,000 people.<\/p>\n<p>Against that backdrop, Martinez said, New Mexico had climbed to second highest in the nation for violent crime.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlbuquerque\u2019s in the middle of a crime wave, and the APD obviously didn\u2019t have the amount of officers it needed to counteract this crime wave,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd so to the extent that the federal authorities could become part of fighting this crime wave, that was part of the point behind this investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, Martinez would not answer questions about his role in planning or designing the operation with ATF in advance. He cited the \u201cdeliberative process,\u201d one of several privileges he used during the interview to decline to answer questions.<\/p>\n<p>He also cited the attorney-client privilege, \u201cgovernment ethics\u201d regulations, \u201cnon-public information\u201d and the Rules of Professional Conduct in declining to answer questions.<\/p>\n<p>Martinez said he did not seek to waive the privileges in advance of the interview, but that he would \u201clook into\u201d asking DOJ officials for permission to discuss specifics of the operation in a future interview.<\/p>\n<p>Martinez did address why the ATF targeted Albuquerque\u2019s International District, an impoverished, largely minority section of the southeast part of the city.<\/p>\n<p>He pointed to an Albuquerque \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.abqjournal.com\/1046430\/the-5-most-violent-areas-to-live-in-albuquerque.html\">Journal article<\/a>\u201d published last month that cited a Mayor Richard Berry-commissioned report on crime overseen by Scott Darnell, Gov. Susana Martinez\u2019s former spokesman and deputy chief of staff.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom what has come out in the Journal, it looks like there is a lot of crime in that area,\u201d Martinez said. Darnell\u2019s report was published this August, a year after the ATF operation concluded.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, Darnell used information from 2014 to 2016 to examine five areas of the city. The report found that the area encompassing the International District \u2014 several times larger than the other four areas by population and square mileage \u2014 had the highest number of violent crime incidents, but the third-highest per capita rate for violent crimes and for the addresses of people accused of committing them.<\/p>\n<p>Martinez would not say what information was shared with ATF agents in advance of the operation, and he would not say why the federal law enforcement agency didn\u2019t target the two areas of town with higher crime concentrations.<\/p>\n<p>During the interview, he reiterated the quantities of guns and drugs seized in the operation: 17 pounds of meth, 2.5 pounds of heroin, 1.5 pounds of cocaine and 127 firearms. He would not say whether he considered the sting a success or whether those arrested met the \u201cworst of the worst\u201d criteria he and other federal officials touted at its conclusion.<\/p>\n<p>Martinez said the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office adopted a national \u201cworst of the worst\u201d anti-violence initiative in 2011. He \u201cexpanded\u201d and \u201cretooled\u201d that program as the crime spike began to grip Albuquerque and after two police officers were killed in the line of duty in 2015.<\/p>\n<p>Martinez would not answer questions about the disparities in criminal histories and ongoing illegal activity by some of those arrested in the \u201cworst of the worst\u201d program \u2014 including Davon Lymon&nbsp;, a man accused of killing APD officer Daniel Webster in 2015 \u2014 and those arrested in the ATF operation.<\/p>\n<p>NMID has found that many swept up by ATF had no violent felonies in their backgrounds. Some of them were homeless or living in cars and struggling with drug addictions.<\/p>\n<p>Martinez said he took allegations of racial profiling and questionable tactics seriously as a federal prosecutor. Those claims are the subject of litigation playing out in federal court now in a few of the cases stemming from the ATF sting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cObviously we\u2019re here because there are concerns,\u201d he added, although he would not answer questions about the racial disparities among those arrested. \u201cI\u2019m really sad about this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>NMID\u2019s stories have led to <a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/2017\/08\/25\/abq-city-councilor-wants-congressional-investigation-into-atf-sting\/\">a call for congressional investigations<\/a> of the operation and a rebuke of the ATF from the city of Albuquerque. City Councilor Pat Davis, who is running against Martinez in the Democratic primary for the Albuquerque-based congressional seat, is sponsoring the resolution.<\/p>\n<p>Martinez refused to comment on Davis\u2019 resolution, and he would not say whether he supports a congressional investigation. He also would not say whether he plans to campaign for Congress on the results of the ATF operation, or whether he would have recommended the ATF program to a U.S. Attorney in another jurisdiction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo the extent that there are individuals who are prosecuted and who are no longer a threat to the community, that is part of my record, and that is part of how I go forward,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cIt was my obligation as the U.S. Attorney during that time period to do what I could to make our city safer, to make our streets safe.<\/p>\n<p>Crime rates have continued to increase in Albuquerque and in the International District since the ATF sting wrapped up. Asked whether the city is safer as a result of the operation, Martinez replied: \u201cI stand on the facts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For more of Jeff Proctor&#8217;s reporting on this story and our interview with Damon Martinez, click <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/2017\/09\/29\/atf-contrast-accused-cop-killer-vs-low-level-drug-offenders\/\">here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jeff Proctor, New Mexico In Depth Damon Martinez says he would take \u201cseriously\u201d allegations of racial profiling and other questionable tactics alleged about a four-month federal drug and gun sting operation last year if he were still U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico. But he won\u2019t say how he viewed his responsibilities&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":11744,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[289,573],"tags":[1460,1462,1463,1464,1195,1461],"class_list":["post-11764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-law-enforcement","category-segments","tag-atf-sting","tag-damon-martinez","tag-entrapment","tag-law-enforcement-sting","tag-racial-profiling","tag-u-s-attorney"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Former U.S. Attorney offers few answers on controversial ATF sting - New Mexico In Focus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/former-u-s-attorney-offers-few-answers-on-controversial-atf-sting\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former U.S. Attorney offers few answers on controversial ATF sting - New Mexico In Focus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Jeff Proctor, New Mexico In Depth Damon Martinez says he would take \u201cseriously\u201d allegations of racial profiling and other questionable tactics alleged about a four-month federal drug and gun sting operation last year if he were still U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico. 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