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BREAKING: Attorney Foy speaks out on DA’s ‘blow-out’

In a press conference held Friday afternoon at his office, Silver City attorney and former DA Jim Foy addressed lingering questions surrounding a June 11 encounter between District Attorney Francesca Estevez and police officers, discussing Estevez’s drive into town that was filmed and reported by a concerned motorist, her allegedly performing the “walk-and-turn” test, “falling” back into her car and her general overall demeanor during the two and a half hours she spent with police while they assisted her with a flat tire.

Foy, who is Estevez’s attorney, asserted that dealing with the police can be nerve-wracking for any reasonable human being. He also explained, on Estevez’s behalf, that she had misheard the police when they asked where she was coming from — thinking instead that the officer asked where she was going. Critics have pilloried her changing response to the question, first saying she was coming from Lordsburg, then Deming, even though it was clear from the citizen-provided video she had in fact been driving on U.S. 180 west of Silver City.

“She does not drink alcohol, and she does not use controlled substances,” Foy said.

According to Foy, police lapel camera video — reviewed in its unedited form by the Daily Press — shows Estevez was not giving herself part of a standard field sobriety test, an assertion leveled by two Albuquerque television stations, but was instead pacing while talking on her cell phone, calling to get her damaged car tire changed.

“When I’m on the phone, I’m pacing back and forth,” Foy said. “To claim it was a 9-step walk-and-turn test is just disingenuous.”

The entirety of the video also reveals conversations between Silver City Police Officer Leticia Lopez and New Mexico State Police Officer Alyssa Carrasco, with both saying they found no evidence that Estevez was impaired in any way, having checked for the smell of alcohol on her breath and in her drinks that were in the car.

Estevez was present for Foy’s presentation, but did not respond directly to questions Friday.

For complete coverage of the press conference, pick up a copy of Saturday’s Silver City Daily Press.

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