Facing level-one drug felonies, Arizona resident Carlos Miramontes appeared for a hearing Thursday afternoon in Montezuma County Combined Courts.
Last month, he was charged after a police operation involved an investigator posing undercover to buy large quantities of illegal narcotics.
While 22nd Judicial District Court Judge William Furse lowered his bond from $250,000 to $175,000 cash or surety bond, Miramontes’ preliminary hearing was postponed until Aug. 13 to allow for the defense to review extensive newly disclosed discovery files.
Thirty-year-old Miramontes was charged by the District Attorney’s Office with two counts of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance. Prosecutors have said in previous hearings, it’s likely federal prosecutors will take over handling the case.
Police in probable cause documents allege Miramontes arrived to the Ute Mountain Casino on May 8 with about 38 pounds of methamphetamine and 51,000 fentanyl pills. He was arrested after allegedly opening the trunk of his Mitsubishi Outlander and revealing the drugs to sell to an undercover officer as part of a prearranged agreement, according to court documents.
The court proceedings Thursday focused on three topics: rescheduling the preliminary hearing, a defense motion regarding arguments of discovery violations, and the defense’s request of bond reduction for Miramontes.
The defense sought to reduce Miramontes’ bond from $250,000 to $75,000. Colorado public defender Shelby Boyer argued the arrest affidavit claim of “cartel ties” was unsubstantiated profiling. She said Miramontes is a U.S. citizen with minimal criminal history, who grew up and resides in Glendale, Arizona.
“There has been nothing that I’ve seen referenced in the affidavit or any of the discovery that I have viewed so far speaking to Mr. Miramontes being a flight risk,” Boyer said. “There's nothing I can see … besides potentially Mr. Miramontes’ name or the color of his skin. That was most concerning for us.”
She said he has a plan to stay in Colorado to show he is not a flight risk.
Prosecutor John Goodlander told Furse he agreed upon viewing discovery nothing pertained to Mexican cartel connections. He said some further information on that might be documented within the thousand discovery items provided by the Drug Enforcement Administration just recently.
“I'm not going to ask the court to put really any stake in those allegations at this point,” Goodlander said. “I think what it comes down to is 38 pounds of suspected methamphetamine and 51,000 fentanyl pills. That is an extreme amount of drugs.”
The prosecutor argued that given the high-level drug charges and the strength of the state’s case, it would give anyone good incentive to run.
“What I'm asking you to look at is the amount of drugs here, the fact that he was caught red-handed selling them to an undercover (agent) and the huge community safety risk of having somebody that's involved in high-level trafficking out in the community,” Goodlander said.
The affidavit alleges: “Miramontes has demonstrated established ties to narcotics distribution networks with connections extending into Mexico, as well as access to significant financial resources. Based on these factors, he presents a substantial flight risk if released on bond, as he has both the means and potential cross-border support to evade prosecution."
After reading verbatim the affidavit’s claim from above, Furse asked the prosecution: “While it sounds like you haven't had an opportunity to review all of the discovery heading your way, the people can't articulate support for that claim at this time. Is is that an accurate statement?”
Goodlander responded he didn’t believe police officers would include a serious allegation in a sworn affidavit unless they had the evidence to back them up.
“I would ask the court to trust law enforcement that they're not going to put that in there for no reason,” he said.
Furse said when determining bond, multiple factors are considered, both to ensure community safety and Miramontes’ next appearance in court.
He said he is also addressing other circumstances consisting of the “exceptionally high volume” of alleged drugs found weighing it against community risk and any potential motivations to flee based on the class-one drug felonies.
“While the court recognizes the affidavit includes allegations of ties to a criminal network, the court isn't giving that any weight at this point when it determines bond,” Furse said.
Furse ordered to reduce the bond to $175,000. He also ruled that he did not find any discovery violations under Colorado Rule of Criminal Procedure 16 about timeliness of evidence disclosure to the defense.
awatson@the-journal.com
