{"id":33864,"date":"2023-05-23T14:33:12","date_gmt":"2023-05-23T20:33:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/farmington-police-officers-attorney-addresses-second-amendment-issues\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:14:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:14:03","slug":"farmington-police-officers-attorney-addresses-second-amendment-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/farmington-police-officers-attorney-addresses-second-amendment-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"Farmington police officers\u2019 attorney addresses Second Amendment issues"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=a99ae837-7a37-5e3d-a190-7dfa7dfba241&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"1358\" height=\"831\" alt=\"Luis Robles, attorney for the Dotson family, cited U.S. Supreme Court decisions that differentiate between the right to defend self or family and defending property or items when discussing the defense of officers involved in the April 5 shooting death of Robert Dotson. (Still image from the Dotsons\u2019 Ring camera footage)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Luis Robles, attorney for the Dotson family, cited U.S. Supreme Court decisions that differentiate between the right to defend self or family and defending property or items when discussing the defense of officers involved in the April 5 shooting death of Robert Dotson. (Still image from the Dotsons\u2019 Ring camera footage)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution reads: \u201cA well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state; the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The amendment as written allows people to keep guns and to use guns to protect themselves and their loved ones; however, it does not allow individuals to shoot trespassers.<\/p>\n<p>This was one of the arguments coming from Albuquerque-based attorney Luis Robles, who is representing the three Farmington Police Department officers involved in the April 5 shooting death of Robert Dotson.<\/p>\n<p>The officers went to the wrong address on a domestic violence call for service. The address from dispatch was 5308 Valley View Ave. They responded to 5305 Valley View, which was Dotsons\u2019 home. Dotson came to the door with a gun, and the officers fired their weapons, killing him.<\/p>\n<p>Shon Northam, attorney for Dotson\u2019s family, previously said the police officers \u201chad no business\u201d being at the Dotson home. He further said the officers \u201cwere trespassing and breaking the law when they entered onto the Dotson property.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Robles referred to it as the \u201cfundamental misunderstanding\u201d of the Second Amendment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can protect yourself and the people in your home, but you can\u2019t protect your property,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video wp-block-embed-youtube naviga-video-embed\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jzXAEGKK4yo\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cFolks think they have unfettered rights,\u201d Robles said. \u201cRights have limits. License is the ability to do whatever you want. When people think they have a right, they think they have a license that they can do no wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Supreme Court has handled cases dealing with individuals entering a person\u2019s property or even stealing a person\u2019s property, and Robles said the court made it clear:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can protect the people in your life from immediate serious bodily harm, but you can\u2019t protect your stuff from being stolen by shooting people dead,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Robles\u2019 argument hinges on the belief that police officers Waylon Wasson, Daniel Estrada and Dylan Goodluck went to the Dotson home by mistake but were leaving when Dotson opened his door and raised a handgun. The Dotsons\u2019 Ring video camera showed this happening about midnight April 5. It also showed that the officers realized they were at the wrong house then shows them backing away.<\/p>\n<p>The question has been raised by Northam as to how the three police officers ended up at the wrong house, and why they approached the wrong house, when Officer Goodluck could be heard in the police vehicle saying the address for the domestic violence call was on the left across the street from the Dotsons at 5308 Valley View.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe trainee, Officer Goodluck, was not in the vehicle with Officer Wasson. Officer Goodluck was in a vehicle with Officer Estrada. Officer Wasson used his mobile data terminal\u2019s mapping system,\u201d Robles said. \u201cThe image that he had on his terminal put the pin on the side of the street and the location of the Dotsons\u2019 house. The pin was not where the call was.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=ff100d1a-cc88-58a6-a4f3-c4cafa714300&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" alt=\"Luis Robles argues that the difference between defending self and family and defending property will play a part in determining culpability in the shooting death of Robert Dotson. (Courtesy)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Luis Robles argues that the difference between defending self and family and defending property will play a part in determining culpability in the shooting death of Robert Dotson. (Courtesy)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">\u00a9 Craig Wood<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>It was an \u201coverreliance on technology\u201d that led the officers to the wrong home that night. Goodluck, who once worked as a Domino\u2019s Pizza deliveryman, was on his phone, using Google maps to find 5308 Valley View, but he followed Wasson to 5305 Valley View, the wrong house. \u201cOfficer Goodluck relied on Officer Wasson because he was a trainee,\u201d Robles said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was not as if Wasson showed up at the wrong house \u2013 technology took him there,\u201d Robles said. \u201cThey realized they were at the wrong house, and they were going to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When asked about the mapping system discrepancy experienced by the officers and the issue may be avoided in the future, FPD spokeswoman Shanice Gonzales said the department was still investigating.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile the state investigation is ongoing, we are conducting our internal investigation,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are aware of the mapping system discrepancy, and once the investigation is complete, we will analyze the facts of this case. We are too early in our investigation to comment on what measures may be taken.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Robles, who has handled hundreds of police-involved shooting cases, said officers go to the wrong address more often than people realize.<\/p>\n<p>This has become more prevalent with the growing reliance on cellular phones. According to Robles, AT&amp;T and Verizon have said not to rely on their pinging signals.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey are not a reliable way of knowing in real time where a cellphone is,\u201d Robles said.<\/p>\n<p>Robles questioned why Dotson did not look at his Ring camera footage or out his front window before opening the door with a gun.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose blinds are open \u2013 someone can look out and see what is going on out there \u2013 the most old-school way of looking out his window to see who is at the front door,\u201d Robles said. \u201cIf the Domino\u2019s delivery person got a call and showed up at the Dotsons\u2019 address \u2013 does this society want Mr. Dotson pointing a gun at the pizza delivery person, because he went to the wrong house? You don\u2019t get to point a gun at these people because they made the mistake at knocking at the wrong door.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=44fc5d82-aff0-588c-9e74-572a90ff79e3&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" alt=\"Robert Dotson\u2019s home at 5305 Valley View Ave. Farmington police mistakenly went to Dotson\u2019s home instead of the dispatched address across the street, and in an encounter about midnight April 5, fatally shot him. (Debra Mayeux\/The Journal)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Robert Dotson\u2019s home at 5305 Valley View Ave. Farmington police mistakenly went to Dotson\u2019s home instead of the dispatched address across the street, and in an encounter about midnight April 5, fatally shot him. (Debra Mayeux\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>The New Mexico State Police department is investigating the officer-involved shooting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis investigation remains active and is being led by the New Mexico State Police Investigations Bureau,\u201d said New Mexico State Police Lt. Mark Soriano, public information officer. \u201cAt the completion of the investigation, all of the reports and evidence will be submitted to the New Mexico attorney general for their review.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>defend self, family versus property will be a factor in officers\u2019 defense<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32668,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[168,799,2833,28,51],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-33864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-crime","tag-farmington","tag-farmington-police-department","tag-headlines","tag-police"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33864"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82381,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33864\/revisions\/82381"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33864"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=33864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}