Judge: Attorneys can’t use James Boyd’s full criminal history at trial

Defense and prosecuting attorneys will not be able to use James Boyd’s full criminal history in a trial later this year for two former Albuquerque police officers charged with his murder, a judge ruled Thursday.

Second Judicial District Court Judge Alisa Hadfield agreed Thursday with a motion filed by prosecutors for the state that jurors should only be able to know what officers were aware of regarding Boyd’s criminal history when they confronted him in the Albuquerque foothills in 2014.

“I don’t think it’s really any disagreement that evidence of specific instances of the victim’s prior violent conduct that the defendants were aware of it may be admitted for the purpose of showing the defendants’ fear of the victim,” said Judge Hadfield. “But that is limited to what they were actually aware of at the time of or prior to the incident.”

Keith Sandy and Dominique Perez are both charged with second-degree murder in Boyd’s shooting death and face a September trial.

Boyd had been arrested at least a dozen times before officers confronted him that day in the foothills for camping on open space land, which is illegal in the city.

Hadfield had previously said that she did not want the extra information to possibly taint the jury pool, something special prosecutor Randi McGinn also argued for.

“It’s not just blaming the victim. It’s something worse,” said McGinn. “It’s saying that no matter if we just shot him justifiably or not, it’s OK because he was mentally ill and he had done some bad things in his life and deserved to die.”

Jury selection is scheduled to begin Sept. 12.