Native journalist scheduled for trial in drunken driving case

Tuesday, May 14, 2019  

SANTA FE, New Mexico -- Award-winning Native journalist Jenni Monet is headed to trial this fall after arriving late to a court appearance here on charges of drunken driving and resisting arrest.

When Monet's name was called in a crowded courtroom in New Mexico's capital city on Tuesday morning, the Pueblo of Laguna citizen was nowhere to be found. And neither was her attorney.

The absence befuddled Judge George Anaya, Jr., who openly wondered whether Monet had been detained on the outstanding arrest warrant issued against her last month after she violated the terms of her release by testing positive for alcohol use.

A quick check of the system showed that wasn't the reason. So Anaya, after indicating he would issue an order of some sort regarding Monet, moved on to a slew of other cases on what he said was the "DWI docket" in Santa Fe County Magistrate Court.

Three drunken driving defendants later, the door to Courtroom 4 swung open. It was Monet and Paul Linnenburger, her locally-based attorney.

O’Brien Fellow and independent journalist Jenni Monet gets arrested in New Mexico. Chelsea Johanning has the story. pic.twitter.com/hQXx6gHQaD

— MUTV (@marquetteutv) April 25, 2019

But the entrance was not a dramatic one. Neither Monet nor her attorney were aware that her case had been called and they alerted court staff of their presence in the room.

Five drunken driving defendants later, Anaya circled back and that's when Linnenburger took the blame for the near oversight.

"I apologize, your honor," Linnenburger said.

"I was talking with my client," he said, in the hallway right outside the room.

Anaya didn't seem to mind too much, though. At least one other defendant on the DWI docket wasn't in the room either when her case was called, though in that instance her attorney was there.

The judge was less impressed with the reasons behind Monet's outstanding arrest warrant. He read off to the entire room the levels that were registered by Soberlink, a hand-held device that measures a person's blood alcohol content and transmits the results to court authorities via a cellular network.

Under the conditions of her release, Monet is not allowed to consume alcohol at all. The levels appeared to be rather high, Anaya said.

"Consider this a verbal warning," Anaya told Monet as she stood in front of him.

But after hearing from a Santa Fe district attorney that the state no longer wished to pursue the arrest warrant, Anaya agreed to have it removed from the case.

"Outside of that issue, there has been complete compliance," attorney Linnenburger noted.

Monet later paid a $100 fine -- in cash, which she obtained from a nearby bank after learning the court did not accept any other methods of payment -- following the conclusion of the hearing.

Otherwise, Monet -- whose given surname is Monette -- declined to comment to Indianz.Com on the record about her case, except to refer to prior statements in which she vowed to mount a vigorous defense to the charges, ones that have threatened to derail her career as one of Indian Country's most prominent journalists.

"It is not lost on me the irony of how I am often writing and discussing the crisis for Native Americans overcoming chronic negativity in the news media -- and yet, here, I have contributed to it," Monet said as she decried her "wrongful arrest and detainment" in Santa Fe last month.

She was arrested in the parking lot of a liquor store, not far from the courthouse, after calling police twice to complain about being denied service at the business. She believes she was treated differently because of her race in a city where Native Americans represent only about 2.1 percent of population but where many more travel for work, education, artistic, cultural and other opportunities.

The owner of Cliff's Liquor Store also called police with a complaint of "disorderly conduct," according to dispatch records. Video from inside the establishment shows Monet visibly upset about her treatment though it does not contain any sound.

"Officers did not arrive until nearly 45 minutes later, during which time she was distraught and humiliated by the situation," her attorney said in a statement at the time of the arrest. "Expecting assistance from the officers, Ms. Monette was instead placed under arrest without justification, and officers charged her with offenses for which they do not have evidence or legal support."

Monet will have plenty of time to think about the situation as she prepares for the next stage in the case. The trial isn't scheduled to start until October 10, some six months from now, leaving a cloud hanging over her until the charges are resolved.

And another new obstacle hinders Monet's ability to report on some of Indian Country's most pressing issues, such as the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women. She learned over the weekend that her drivers license had been revoked in connection with her case, limiting her options until she gets that cleared up.

Also complicating matters is a prior DWI incident in neighboring Colorado, one that occurred about two decades ago, when Monet was in her 20s. Though the drunken driving charge in New Mexico is listed as her "1st", the state prosecutors are still looking into the earlier case, the circumstances of which could affect the ongoing matter.

Should Monet go to trial and wind up being convicted or pleading guilty, she would face a mandatory minimum of 48 hours in jail for a 1st offense. She spent about that much time in the Santa Fe County Adult Detention Facility following her arrest last month.

Under New Mexico law, a crime of aggravated driving while intoxicated is more serious than one of merely driving while intoxicated and and it can lead to harsher punishments. Monet faces the charge because she refused a breathalyzer test.

But with the pre-trial hearing out of the way, Monet was headed back to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to complete her journalism fellowship at Marquette University. She was a member of the 2018-2019 class, having been selected for her dispatches on Native issues. Her work there ends with the conclusion of the academic year this week.

Milwaukee was where Monet went following her high-profile arrest on April 5, video of which shows her lashing out at police officers with profane language. And that's where she had tested positive for alcohol use on April 16.

Before the incident, Monet had made a slew of public appearances across the country in which she spoke about the depiction of Native Americans in the media and the limited number of Native voices in media. Her arrest, which occurred on a Friday evening, and subsequent detainment kept her from two additional engagements in Santa Fe over that weekend. Following her release, she spoke at the Institute of American Indian Arts, during which she discussed the "Crisis in Covering Indian Country."

The DWI case isn't her Monet's first high-profile encounter with law enforcement. In 2017, she was arrested in North Dakota and charged with criminal trespass and engaging in a riot while covering the #NoDAPL movement against the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline.

She won several awards for her work on the issue, including being named Journalist of the Year by the Newswomen's Club of New York in 2017. Then in June 2018, she was found not guilty of trespass after a jury trial in North Dakota, Native News Online reported at the time. The charge of engaging in a riot had previously been dropped by state prosecutors.

The Santa Fe Sheriff's Department blotter incident from Monet's arrest follows:

0219005630/Aggravated DUI, resisting evading obstructing an officer/4.5.19

Deputy Assigned: Blaine Lattin

Commander Entering: CPL. Jared Mosher

Suspect: Jenni Monette 42 Tucson AZ

Location: 903 Old Pecos Trail, Santa Fe

Deputies were dispatched to Cliff's Liquor Store on reference to a disorderly conduct where deputies made contact with the suspect seated inside her vehicle. A DWI investigation was initiated due to an odor of alcohol coming from the suspects breath. Suspect refused SFST's and resisted deputies as they placed her in handcuffs. The suspect refused to submit to a breath test she was booked.

'My wrongful arrest': Native journalist doubles down on defense in drunken driving case (April 22, 2019)
Award-winning Native journalist arrested on charge of intoxicated driving (April 11, 2019)