ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Adam Food Market is being singled out by police as a hotbed of criminal activity. Now one of the employees' girlfriends hopes it won't affect her case.
According to the criminal complaint, surveillance camera footage showed Mohamed Kara, a market worker, firing shots at a car in the parking lot before two other people picked up the shell casings. According to the criminal complaint, Carla initially told police that “the car was driving erratically in the parking lot, so I fired a gun into the air.'' After viewing the surveillance video, the man told police the driver pointed a gun at him inside the store, so he fired at the car to protect his wife and the store.
This case is currently proceeding in court. Carla's lawyer called for the case to be dismissed, citing “prosecution's vindictiveness” and arguing that prosecutors were unfairly targeting the market. She cited the city's lawsuit against Adam Food Market and its public press conference condemning the market's crimes.
She also said that the New Mexico Department of Justice took over the case to avoid a conflict of interest with the Bernalillo County District Attorney's Office, and that the increase in charges from two to eight was due to “the prosecutor's desire for revenge.” claimed to be evidence of.
Carla's Arlinda Johnson said: “There was a violation of due process by Carla, which was essentially juror intimidation, and the charge was brought against Carla because she was the owner of Adam Food Market. “It would lead people to believe that they must be guilty.” Counsel.
But prosecutors argued that the state agency was separate from the city, and the charges were not without merit. “I work for the attorney general's office, but I don't work for the city. We are two separate governing bodies, and the civil litigation that the city of Albuquerque does is separate from the state in this matter. This is not a criminal case that we are pursuing,” said Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Vickery. “The case was again referred to a grand jury and additional charges were added based on the evidence presented.”
Judge Joseph Montano ultimately sided with the state. They also discussed a second motion filed by the defense to keep Adam Food Market from being named in the Carla case.
“Obviously we need to provide a location, but I would respectfully request that the state provide us with an address,” Johnson said.
“People refer to the name of a location based on the name of the store, so it's no different than saying the name of Target or Walmart or the store where the incident happened,” Vickery said.
Judge Montano did not rule on the motion Friday. He said he would reconsider closer to jury selection, adding that mentioning Adam Food Market would be necessary to rule out whether potential jurors were biased against the business. He pointed out that there is.
Last month, Mayor Tim Keller announced the city intended to file a second lawsuit against the market after the first lawsuit was dismissed.
