By Colleen Heild
Albuquerque Journal
SANDOVAL COUNTY, N.M. — The Sandoval County Sheriff’s deputy who was the lone survivor of a deadly gun battle that took the lives of her partner and a burglar wanted for murder has been cleared of any wrongdoing.
Sandoval County District Attorney Lemuel Martinez said Wednesday that an independent State Police investigation turned up no evidence that deputy Theresa Moriarty committed any crime.
And Sheriff John Paul Trujillo announced that an internal investigation into the illfated stakeout found “no violations of any (sheriff’s) policies or procedures.”
Moriarty, who is on leave, was the only witness to the early-morning shootout in which her partner, Sgt. Joe Harris, 46, was fatally wounded. Joseph Henry Burgess, 62, died at the scene.
Moriarty wasn’t injured, but her lawyer said Wednesday that she “isn’t doing good” and it is “debatable” whether she’ll ever return to her job.
Attorney John D’Amato also said his client will be happy to hear the district attorney’s announcement.
Burgess is believed to have burglarized residences in the Jemez Mountains for a decade while on the lam in connection with a double murder in Canada.
Harris and Moriarty were staking out a cabin that had previously been burglarized when Burgess broke through a window. Although they had fallen asleep, the two officers managed to subdue and handcuff Burgess before he pulled a concealed .357 revolver from the back of his pants and shot Harris.
Harris was struck in the femoral artery but grabbed a weapon from Moriarty and shot Burgess twice in the head, killing him. Harris died later at the hospital.
Martinez said that his review focused on whether Moriarty followed the law during the incident and that events happened the way she described them. State Police said they were unable to interview Moriarty for six days after the incident because she said she was too distraught.
Sheriff Trujillo said no standard operating procedures were violated.
“Things happen, and you can have all the policies and procedures and the training you want. These are qualified officers. It’s just one of those things.”
Asked whether the burglar was frisked after being handcuffed but before he opened fire, Trujillo said he couldn’t say without “looking at the (State Police) report.” A Journal review of the 60-page report shows that the question of a pat-down wasn’t mentioned.
D’Amato said he believes law enforcement agencies will be able to learn from the incident.
“This is going to have a positive spin over the next few years, because it’s going to be used as a training episode for future officers,” he said. “Any department that’s made aware of it, it’s going to be talked about and re-evaluated, and analyzed and dissected and Monday-morning quarterbacked.”
During an interview with the Journal, D’Amato filled in some details about events leading up to the shootings.
He said Moriarty and Harris, who were good friends, had their own recreational vehicles parked some miles from the stakeout site.
The day of the stakeout, Moriarty closed the door of her RV, with her service weapon and other equipment inside, to visit Harris, who was with his wife and child in the other RV.
She realized as they were leaving for the stakeout that she had locked herself out, D’Amato said. Harris offered her one of his guns, a .380 caliber Ruger.
Inside the cabin, the two started the undercover operation about midnight and fell into what D’Amato called a “light sleep.”
D’Amato said it wouldn’t have made any difference had they been awake when Burgess began breaking through a cabin window.
“They still had the drop on the guy initially. They surprised him.”
It was dark in the cabin. D’Amato said Burgess was secured on the ground and “Joe goes to the radio and Theresa is walking away to secure a flashlight and the .380 caliber (Ruger)” when Burgess shot Harris.
He also said it would have made little difference had Moriarty been able to fire Harris’ .380 caliber Ruger. The rounds that fatally wounded Harris had already been fired by the time Moriarty got to the gun.
Moriarty is a former police officer from New York and “very familiar with guns,” he said. “But she’s not familiar with this particular firearm (Harris’ Ruger).”
She told State Police investigators she tried to shoot Burgess but couldn’t get the gun to fire.
“It’s a small gun, you can probably cover it with your hand ... there’s no safety, so they purposely design it with a heavy trigger pull and a long throw,” D’Amato said.
A wounded Harris threw himself on top of Burgess “to subdue him,” D’Amato said, and Moriarty handed him the .380. The State Police report said Harris shot Burgess at close range.
“I’m not going to secondguess what would have made a difference (in the outcome),” D’Amato said.
Copyright 2009 Albuquerque Journal