Judge declares mistrial in Alamogordo murder case
Posted at: 02/28/2013 12:23 PM
By: The Associated Press
ALAMOGORDO, N.M. (AP) - A judge declared a mistrial in an Alamogordo murder case because the prosecution didn't provide the defense with a ballistics report until the night before the trial was to begin.
The Alamogordo Daily News reports that the mistrial was declared during a hearing before Mellissa Mathis' trial was to begin Wednesday.
Mathis is accused in the June 2011 shooting death of her ex-lover, 33-year-old Shavon Twitty of Alamogordo. Prosecutor Kirby Willis says a police detective delivered the ballistics report to defense attorney Jesse Cosby after prosecutors discovered Tuesday evening they had the report.
Willis said the trial could proceed without referring to the report but Judge James W. Counts said Cosby didn't have time to consider using the report. Two Ruidoso men await trial in the case.
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