Published on:

Humilated from a DWI? Ask this guy…

In a recent case in New Mexico, a citizen was arrested, tired, and acquitted of DWI.  Despite his being found not guilty by a jury of his peers, and after a clerk "checked the wrong box" saying guilty, his picture and name was published in the newspaper.

Oh yes, a retraction was printed, but I’m quite sure it was too little too late for him.  The interesting thing is, I found this article online, on an NBC news site, which not only published his name, but also published his PICTURE as well!   Apparently they don’t care about his privacy either….

Here is the story, but in order to not perpetuate the wrong that was done to this man, I have removed his name and his picture.

Man mistakenly published on DWI offender list

A man who was never found guilty for DWI had his picture published in the local paper saying he was guilty of drunk driving.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, was arrested last August and blew at or above the legal limit, according to court records. XXXXXXXXXXX fought the case and was found "not guilty," in February.

A Metropolitan Court clerk made a mistake and marked guilty next to the DWI charge days after XXXXX was acquitted.

XXXXXXXXX works for the Federal Government on Kirtland Air Force Base and has been trying to get higher security clearance.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX said, "I’m gonna have to do a lot of explaining I shouldn’t have never had to do."

For two months XXXXX was officially a convict, until the mistake was found and fixed.

During the time XXXXXXXXXXXXX was mistakenly labeled "guilty" his name was put into the mix of guilty faces to be published by Albuquerque police.

Metropolitan Court spokeswoman Janet Blair said, "We really regret Mr. XXXXXXXXXXXX had to go through this…and we don’t understand why such outdated information was used when correct information has been available for three months."

The Albuquerque Police Department plans to issue a retraction in the next few months.

Contact Information