State of New Mexico vs. Jason Daskalos

You probably remember Jason Daskalos from his recent brush with the law when the prominent Albuquerque developer and amateur race car driver was accused of DWI (ABQ Journal - Subscription). Daskalos was ultimately cleared of all charges stemming from the 2006 incident (ABQ Journal - Subscription).

It's a good thing that Mr. Daskalos is a wealthy individual because he's may find himself back in court again, this time on domestic violence charges. A criminal complaint has been filed against the fast driving (and apparently fast living) Daskalos alleging battery against a household member (read the Metro Court case activity here).

According to the criminal complaint, Daskalos and his friend Jason (whose last name is unknown) got into a verbal confrontation at a local bar. The victim, Chrystal Buzzard tried to intervene in the argument and allegedly got shoved to the ground by the defendant (Daskalos). Apparently, the three left the bar and headed over to "Jason's house" (we assume the friend of Daskalos not Daskalos himself) where they resumed the evening's main event with Ms. Buzzard ringside. The complainant tried to intervene a second time in the continuation of the argument where the defendant allegedly pulled Ms. Buzzard's hair and punched her in the face.

Officer C.D. Baker took the complaint from Ms. Buzzard and was able to reach Mr. Daskalos in order to arrange for him to return to we believe, Ms. Buzzard's residence in order to give the officer his side of the story. According to the complaint, Mr. Daskalos failed to return and could not be located by the end of Officer Baker's shift in order for him to take Daskalos' statement. The result is a Criminal Complaint and a Summons for Jason Daskalos.

First of all let's remember that Daskalos despite his numerous brushes with the law and his amazing propensity for finding himself in Metro Court is innocent until proven guilty. Second, it's not unusual for the victims of domestic violence to shall we say, forget to show up in court; resulting in a dismissal. However, there are a couple of troubling aspects to these allegations particularly if you happen to be Mr. Daskalos' wife.

The bar where this whole thing allegedly started is located at 6001 Brentwood Ln. NE. The business at that address is TD's North - a local strip club. More troubling is the nature of the charge, Battery Against a Household Member. Our Eyes tell us that the 26 year old Ms. Buzzard is not Mr. Daskalos' wife, but in order to be charged with Battery Against a Household Member there has to be an established relationship between the two parties. When you put two and two together, it's easy to assume that Ms. Buzzard is Mr. Daskalos' girlfriend.

Why is any of this important to anyone other than the parties involved? Mr. Daskalos has a long history of using his political influence and personal connections to make his traffic violations go away (ABQ Journal - Subscription). Daskalos' DWI charges resulted in an investigation that revealed 20 of his 36 traffic citations had been dismissed and resulted in the resignation of city attorney Ellen Argyres, and the firing of officer Ben Kirby. He clearly has very little regard for those who are harmed by trying to help him out of a tough spot. We would hope those who might be tempted to bend the rules in his favor and for his favor remember that.

In addition, Domestic violence carries its own unique stigma and considering Mr. Daskalos' history and willingness to use his political influence to get himself out of trouble, it would be incumbent upon the successful developer to put pressure on everyone from DA's to judges in order to make this thing go away. Frankly, we're not willing to just let that happen.

It's more than likely that should this go to trial, Ms. Buzzard will not show up; it happens a lot and certainly wouldn't be unusual for domestic violence cases. But we believe that it's important for everyone to bound equally by the law, despite their political connections or lack thereof. Mr. Daskalos' alleged actions are part of the public record, he has retained an attorney and the legal process should continue without interference from outside parties whose only interest is to see their friend and benefactor kept out of the hooskow.

----- UPDATE -----
Our Eyes tell us that this post had the powers that be up on APD's 5th floor spittin' nails on Friday. We wonder... since the allegation is part of the public record and since Mr. Daskalos is just another citizen, why would the revelation of these allegations bother anyone at APD? That is of course, assuming that the mayor and 5th floor didn't have other plans like say... making the charges disappear.

Speaking of public records, we found out that one of our deep links to the Metro Court case look up system isn't functioning properly. We've made a change to the link so hopefully it will work but just in case it doesn't, here's how to find the information:

1. Go to this link: http://www.metrocourt.state.nm.us/casemanagement/
2. In the field marked Name of Defendant enter: Daskalos Jason [No comma]
3. Click on Search
4. You'll need to scroll past the other 42 misdemeanor charges to the one marked DV416407. (Yes you read that right - 42 other misdemeanor charges most of which are traffic violations.)

Center OF or FOR Domestic Violence?

There seems to be a bit of a disagreement over the new family justice center announced by Mayor Chavez last week. (ABQ Journal - Subscription Required) Seems that the Mayor failed to sign legislation over a year and a half ago that would have done the same thing. Our fellow blogger over at the Wednesday Morning Quarterback gives a great play-by-play analysis (Read it Here) of what happened. Believe it or not, there might have been politics involved... that couldn't be true? Could it?

Who cares who gets the credit anyway? As Councilor Winter was quoted in the Journal as saying, "It doesn't matter who takes credit for realizing the need for the creation of the center." We wholeheartedly agree. There's just one problem... seems that the point man on this whole affair has been accused of, you guessed it... domestic violence.

Our Eyes on the Inside tell us that the former high-ranking APD officer that has been doing the preliminary work on the center has allegedly been accused of felony domestic violence while in uniform. Our Eyes tell us that there are two tapes of the alleged victim making a report to an APD officer that detail the incident. More importantly, this officer was ordered not to file a report and to get rid of the taped interviews! Seems that the accused officer held sufficient rank to warrant protection from their higher-ups.

Our Eyes tell us that the incident is widely discussed in APD circles and that the officer involved has protected himself by making sure that copies of the tapes have been stored in safe places including with his attorney. If our Eyes have the story straight, there are a few questions that need to be asked. First, why in the world would you put someone in charge of a domestic violence center that has been accused of domestic violence? Second and more importantly, what was APD doing ordering an officer not to file a report and to destroy evidence?

You can be sure that The Eye will be looking into this further.