It’s official. Mayor Amanda Forrister is above the law.
Truth or Consequences Mayor Amanda Forrister and her husband Lane Forrister will never be tried for 30 animal code violations, including animal cruelty.
The city’s special prosecutor, Jordy Stern, an attorney with the Esquibel Law Firm in Albuquerque, refuses to prosecute the mayor and her husband. He filed the withdrawal or “nolle prosequi” motion mere hours before the Forristers’ April 5 pretrial hearing, writing it was “in the best interest of justice.”
The Citizen has emailed and phoned Stern, who was hired by the city when City Attorneys Jaime (Jay) Rubin and John Appel recused themselves from the case, requesting elaboration on how not going to trial is serving justice, with no response.
According to Wikipedia, “The power of entering a nolle prosequi is now rarely used,” and is normally filed when the prosecutor has insufficient evidence to pursue prosecution or the evidence points to the alleged criminal’s innocence.
Municipal Judge Beatrice Sanders, who presided over the case, said during the hearing, “In my 30 years on the bench I have only seen a nolle prosequi filed one other time.”
Lack of evidence or evidence leading to innocence does not apply in the Forristers’ case.
The charge of animal cruelty was related to the Forristers not providing potable water to their dogs. Two animal control officers discovered the 14 dogs on Sept. 6, 2022, when they were called to the Forristers’ address on a complaint that there were two dogs loose. Their body cams show green growths in numerous water bowls and capture Lane Forrister stating, “We give them water once a week.”
The 14 counts of not having registered their dogs with the city are proven by the Forristers not producing those registrations or city dog tags that day.
The 14 counts of the dogs not having rabies shots are proven by the Forristers not producing such documentation that day as well.
The charge of not having a kennel permit is also proven by the Forristers not producing that document.
Lack of evidence or innocence was not the basis for Stern’s refusal to prosecute the Forristers. He did not show in person at the court on April 5, but called in, the court clerk setting up a conference call on her phone since the court’s media equipment was on the fritz due to high winds the day before.
The audio was very bad, but Stern essentially said the Forristers had come into compliance with the laws.
“Someone” visited the Forristers’ site a week after Sept. 6, Stern said, and found the water acceptable.
Concerning the city registration and kennel permit charges, Stern said the “city has an interpretation issue” with the law. He offered no documentation to the court of a kennel permit.
The animal code currently states that those applying for a kennel permit must show they have registered their animals with the city and that the dogs have received rabies shots. It also states an animal control officer will visit the site and give a recommendation whether the permit should be issued.
The Citizen attended the Jan. 9 meeting of the Planning & Zoning Commission in which the commission approved a kennel permit for the Forristers’ 14 working hunting dogs. It did so without proof of city registration or rabies shots and with Code Enforcement Officer Jamie Sweeney’s recommendation for approval. Sweeney admitted no dogs were present during her site visit.
The City Commission also ignored the law on the books and gave the final approval of the kennel permit at their Jan. 11 meeting.
Concerning Stern’s claim the Forristers’ dogs were now vaccinated against rabies, no proof was offered to the court.
The Citizen did a second Inspection of Public Records Act request for those vaccination documents. The first request was turned down by the city, which claimed it didn’t have those records since the code does not require kennel applicants to show proof of rabies vaccinations—a false statement. The city has not changed the animal code ordinance since Mayor Amanda Forrister signed it into law February 2022. The Citizen’s second IPRA was also initially turned down for the same reason. Fortunately the Citizen had directed the IPRA to the city clerk and to Special Prosecutor Stern. Stern supplied the documents to the city, which forwarded them to the Citizen. They show the 14 dogs were given rabies shots nine days after the Forristers were cited, proving they were in violation of the law.
The Citizen called Mary Anne Di Giacomo, one of the animal control officers who cited the Forristers on Sept. 6. Two months later Di Giacomo submitted to Municipal Court a 23-page criminal complaint against the Forristers and voided the citations.
Di Giacomo was unaware Stern had refused to prosecute until listening to the Citizen’s phone message. Before calling the Citizen back, Di Giacomo called Stern, asking him why he had not called her, since she was the officer who had filed the criminal complaint the first week of November, 2022. Stern told her that since Di Giacomo was no longer with the city (she now he works for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), he called ACO Knull, who was the other officer with Di Giacomo on Sept. 6, 2022.
Knull, along with then-Chief of Police Victor Rodriguez had tried to talk Di Giacomo out of charging the Forristers, Di Giacomo said she told Stern.
Stern told Di Giacomo that Knull agreed with Stern’s proposal to drop the prosecution of the Forristers.
“A lot of this is on Knull,” Di Giacomo told the Citizen, since it is unlikely Stern would have dropped the case without his agreement.
Documents provided to the court show the city issued an open purchase order to pay Stern up to $10,000 to prosecute the case. He is receiving $200 an hour and his paralegal $95 an hour. A final bill has yet to be submitted.
The Forristers and their lawyer, Mark Filosa, a local attorney, did not bother to show up for the April 5 pretrial hearing, suggesting that they had been informed of Stern’s decision to drop the case.
During the Feb. 15 preliminary hearing, Stern was amenable to Filosa’s suggestion that the city and Forristers work out an agreement, but also asserted that the discovery process should occur, a preliminary trial date and a trial date should be set. In the end, Stern didn’t even make the Forristers work out an agreement or come up with a defense.
Stern’s nolle prosequi ensures the Forristers’ not guilty plea to all 30 counts will go unchallenged and Mayor Amanda Forrister remains unaccountable and above the law.
The city commission, by granting the mayor a kennel permit despite the law on the books, sends the message that it can change laws without the people’s consent.
Before the P&Z Commission and City Commission approved the Forristers’ kennel permit, Assistant City Manager Traci Alvarez said “it was never the city’s intent” to make kennel permit applicants show proof of dogs’ city registration and rabies vaccinations and the law would be changed. The P&Z and city commission assent sends the message that the city is lax in issuing kennel permits. Animals will not be tracked via city registration so death and injury goes untracked. Rabies shots are not required so no veterinarian has to see the animals’ condition. Negligible oversight and up-front costs for setting up a kennel is the message.
The Forristers are the prime example and have set the precedent. During the P&Z public hearing on the kennel permit they were asked how long they had been operating their hunting dog operation without a license. “Nine years,” Mayor Forrister said.
This is disgusting, corrupt, and expensive to us, the taxpayers of this town.
We need to do something about this.
WHAT CAN WE DO?
I hope they will be monitored to insure that the dogs are properly cared for with fresh water and food. Were there any monitoring conditions required by the court?
Since the case never got before the judge, which would have allowed her to set up a monitoring condition, and since the special prosecutor Stern didn’t even work out a deal with the Forristers that may have included monitoring the dogs’ condition–no, there are no conditions required by the court.
And, since Di Giacomo was so pressured to NOT write up the Forristers and Knull pressured her too, and since both P&Z and the Commissioners ignored the law to get the mayor and her husband a kennel permit, I would think no one will ever again monitor the Forristers.
The Forristers also kept threatening that Di Giacomo and Knull had committed illegal search and seizure, in violation of their 4th Amendment. Good luck with them proving that, since there was a 911 call calling them to their address–but the hubris of that claim, when they had illegally had a kennel for 9 years, which if it had been permitted, would have allowed inspections by animal control officers during business hours.
The mayor can make or break any employee. No one is going to monitor them.
Good article. This disgusts and sickens me and the worst part is we can’t do a damn thing about it. The mayor and her accomplices, the city commissioners, have no real oversight and answer to no one… definitely not the city manager, and most definitely not us, their constituents. Ethics? Not here, folks.
We have had a recent rabies case in Hillsboro. The thought of hunting dogs roaming the country side without a rabies permit is horrendous. That Amanda didn’t disclose that she and her husband own hunting dogs to hunt lions when she ran for city commissioner leads one to wonder what are the other secrets our commissioners are hiding. Perhaps we should recall all of the city commissioners. Since I have been living in TorC they have given the Spaceport a sweetheart deal on our Lee Belle Johnson community activities center, put smart meters on our houses, started putting smart water meters in our yards, refuse to tell us how much the redo of Ralph Edwards Park costs and use our utility fees to run the government. We can do better than this.
Shame on the entire City Commission, no one should be above the law and ignorance of the law is no excuse. Just another of a long list of failures to enforce existing laws and ordinances. I hope everyone remembers this come the next City Commission election. We need Commissioners that will adhere and enforce our laws and ordinances. Power corrupts and absolute power absolutely corrupts. I have lost all respect for this Commission and their failure to follow the law and we lost a very competent Animal Control Officer by their actions. They should all be ashamed……
I worked for 4 years as a dog musher at the largest outdoor kennel in North America, Krabloonik. We had over 240 dogs at times. Ton of controversy around us, I think the kennel is being forced closed now by Snowmass Village, the town it’s in.
Wouldn’t it be nice if our mayor had a kennel we could be proud of? there is nothing, in my view, terribly wrong with keeping up old traditions, like hunting and dogsledding. We can do better than tradition limits though, and provide a better life for the dogs. I don’t see why, if not properly done, it wouldn’t be something like an asset to the town that the mayors family has this business- if it were done right and on the up and up.
this is the exact opposite. there is huge potential for animal abuse in an unmonitored kennel. our kennel was open to the public, 24/7 365, and we still had PETA on us constantly. I think, if someone were interested, they could contact PETA. https://www.peta.org/about-peta/contact-peta/report-cruelty/
PETA is relentless in my experience.
What else can we do? we have a state AG, I don’t know the nature of the wording of anything we could write, but something could surely be written. I mean, not just this issue, but it’s pretty obvious town ‘leadership’ doesn’t care much for the perspectives of the people who live here, but anyways there is this option too https://www.peta.org/about-peta/contact-peta/report-cruelty/
what a shame. i wouldn’t want to hunt mountain lions, but i understand it’s a thing that people do. knowing it’s a fairly controversial thing to begin with, throwing this whole other layer on it- and simultaneous with the tearing down of the trees on broadway and main without any sort of respectful ceremony or communication-
“so it goes”
Great idea. Wish I’d thought of it!
edit: second link corrected here https://www.nmag.gov/get-help/investigations-complaint/
I just sent it to Searchlight New Mexico too
Great idea. Wish I’d thought of it!
I just sent a formal complaint to the Attorney General.
Someone else can cover PETA, Please
The only way anything is going to change in Truth or Consequences is by sweeping out the current commissioners on the city council and replacing them with thoughtful independent people. In my wildest dreams it would be young people who can look at the city and see fresh potential. People who are not under the thumb of the big boys who have been running the place for decades. Until then, this kind of action will continue and there is absolutely nothing anyone can do to stop it.
You do know that unless your family has been here since 1985, you are not considered a local, right?
When the “outsiders” outnumber those who think that, we can have a new city government.
PS VOTE!!!!!
I have forwarded a copy of this to literally every media outlet I could think of. It received quite a bit of publicity last time. Let’s see if we can do even better this time!