E-mail Story
Print Friendly
Send E-mail
Reprint story
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Higher Bond for Stalker Sought
By Jeff Proctor
Copyright © 2010 Albuquerque Journal
Journal Staff Writer
Albuquerque Police Det. Trey Economidy says the system failed Bernalillo High School teacher Stefania Gray.
Police found Gray and her boyfriend, well-known University of New Mexico professor Hector Torres, shot to death in Torres' home Monday. Ralph Montoya, Gray's 37-year-old former boyfriend who has a long history of violently stalking women, has been charged in the killings.
Economidy says Montoya shouldn't have had the opportunity to pull the trigger, because he should have been behind bars.
The detective had put together an arrest warrant on Montoya for allegedly following Gray home from work on Jan. 29, forcing his way into the home where she was staying with Torres and attacking the couple while brandishing a knife.
Economidy, who works on APD's IMPACT team, had asked District Court Judge Denise Barela Shepherd to set Montoya's bond at $250,000.
According to Economidy, the judge said she wasn't comfortable with that amount.
Instead, the detective said, Barela Shepherd suggested $100,000, even though Economidy pointed out the violent nature of the allegations, the fact that Montoya had a history of stalking women, and the fear Gray had expressed in telephone conversations.
He said he sought a compromise and asked that the $100,000 bond be cash-only.
Barela Shepherd set the bond at $100,000 cash or surety, meaning Montoya could be released if he posted 10 percent of that amount or put up property worth half the amount.
"I don't see why some judges have such a hard time with bond amounts, especially when there are serious, violent allegations such as these," Economidy said. "I feel that Ms. Gray was let down by the system. She did what was asked of her as a victim. This is unacceptable.
"I informed the judge that (Montoya) had some similar stalking cases out of Las Cruces and pointed out that his actions in my incident were violent and severe," Economidy told the Journal.
"I told her I had spoken with (Stefania) Gray, who had told me she was a school teacher and would call me on her breaks. In more than one of the conversations, she was crying and telling me she was really afraid of her ex-boyfriend — afraid he was going to do something — and she didn't feel safe staying at home alone because of him."
Barela Shepherd declined to comment Friday, but District Court administrator Juanita Duran said the judge took the information Economidy provided into account and set the bond considerably above the base jailhouse amount, which would have come out to $40,000.
No police or prosecutor
Barela Shepherd signed the arrest warrant on Feb. 8 charging Montoya with felonies including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and kidnapping.
He was picked up in Rio Rancho the next day and taken to jail.
Montoya, who works as an engineer, posted bond and was released from the Sandoval County Detention Center on Feb. 10.
On March 1, Metropolitan Judge Sandra Clinton continued the bond Barela Shepherd had set and imposed conditions, including that he stay away from Gray.
Montoya walked out of the courtroom. Six days later, Gray and Torres were dead.
District Court administrator Duran said that either Economidy or the DA's Office could have shown up in Metropolitan Court on March 1 to present additional information and argue for a higher bond.
Metropolitan Court officials say Clinton did not have the full extent of Montoya's domestic violence record in front of her when she continued the bond. While restraining orders can be found in various law enforcement databases, those orders are no long posted on the state court system's Web site.
No one from APD or the District Attorney's Office was present at that hearing to argue for a higher bond because of Montoya's history of stalking and threats against women.
DA spokesman Pat Davis said the office stopped sending prosecutors to felony first appearances about a year ago due to budget and staffing restraints.
Metro Court has background investigators who do checks on defendants, but Clinton did not receive a full picture of Montoya's domestic violence history on March 1 from the investigators.
$1.25 million bond
Montoya was back in front of Judge Clinton on Friday because the two open counts of murder he faces in the killings of Torres and Gray constitute a violation of his earlier conditions of release.
Clinton revoked the $100,000 bond and set Montoya's new bond at $1 million cash only. That means his current bond is $1.25 million after Chief Metro Judge Judith Nakamura continued a $250,000 cash-only bond for the murder charges on Tuesday.
Dressed in an orange Metropolitan Detention Center jumpsuit, Montoya looked down and fidgeted with his handcuffs for most of the time he was in court Friday.
He chatted briefly with a fellow inmate and said nothing to Clinton when he was called before the bench.
Montoya's attorney, Lauren Oliveros, had no comment after the hearing.
You also can send comments via our comment form
|
|
