More News Columnists

• Bill Slakey: As Trib closes, many questions remain unasked
• Phill Casaus: Don't cry for us, Albuquerque; it was worth it
• Joline Gutierrez Krueger: My Wall of Fame holds memories of people, stories that have mattered

MOST RECENT TRIB STORIES

• ABQTrib.com to remain available
  08:48 a.m., February 25, 2008
• Congressman is indicted
  08:37 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Series of attacks target Green Zone
  08:36 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Iran is defying U.N., agency says
  08:35 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Waterboarding approval probed
  08:34 a.m., February 23, 2008

TRIB IN THE BLOGOSPHERE*

• Ty Murray Invitational thrills fans in Albuquerque
• Is Rome Burning?
• Ominous Skies
• The Road to Invalidation
• Albuquerque company participates in “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”

*Note: The Tribune does not create and is not responsible for the blogosphere's headlines and stories. These links to blogs talking about ABQTrib.com are automatically generated. Use them at your own risk.

STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Comments
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

SHARE THIS STORY [?]

Bill Pineda is accused of doing a very bad thing, but fate did something worse to him.

The 37-year-old Albuquerque man was arrested in December 2005 on charges he robbed a woman and held her at gunpoint at a Smith's grocery store.

Two years, repeated delays, a failed plea deal and one mistrial later, Pineda has yet to have his day in court and his accuser has yet to get justice.

It's possible they never will.

Two years before the robbery, Pineda was told he had relapsed diffuse large B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, an aggressive cancer that kills at least half its victims.

According to a January 2006 report from the University of New Mexico Cancer Research and Treatment Center, Pineda has undergone three bouts of chemotherapy, but the cancer continues to recur.

"He will clearly not survive the lymphoma," attending physician Ian Rabinowitz wrote. "I would expect his median survival would be approximately six months to a year."

That year is nearly up.

But so is the patience of the Albuquerque judge who has presided over Pineda's case.

In October, state District Judge Kenneth Martinez's frustration soared when Pineda, who has been out on $25,000 bond almost from the start, failed to show up for the first day of his long-delayed trial.

Fifteen minutes before trial was to begin, Pineda called the judge's office to say he was at UNM Hospital emergency room. He called again sometime later to report he had been sent to the UNM cancer center to have his kidneys "flushed" and could not make it to the trial.

That same morning, his public defender, Lisa Bozone, fell outside the Bernalillo County Courthouse, injuring her leg, breaking her nose and leaving her unable to beg the court for mercy on behalf of her client.

Martinez was forced to declare a mistrial. He also forced Pineda and Bozone to explain why Pineda shouldn't be held in contempt.

At a Nov. 27 hearing, Martinez said Pineda's no-show was a willful avoidance. He was unconvinced by a terse hospital record that detailed only flank pain, dehydration and a need for medication. He was "inclined," he said, to toss Pineda into the Metropolitan Detention Center.

Pineda, thinner and frailer than his mug shot portrayed him and with an oxygen tube in his nose, said nothing and wept silently.

Attorney Bozone argued boldly that the judge's inclination was unfair and cruel. She "respectfully" reminded him he was no doctor and thus unqualified to determine the validity of Pineda's ailment that day.

"You know he's terminal," Bozone said. "He's going to die."

The two argued back and forth, and for a moment it seemed inevitable that Pineda, terminal or not, was headed for jail with Bozone right behind him.

But Martinez eventually showed a restrained mercy. He ordered Pineda into the Community Custody Program, which allows him to stay out of jail but in an ankle monitor.

Pineda entered the program Monday.

Trial is reset for Feb. 25, unless Pineda accepts a plea deal or the Reaper accepts Pineda.

He has already turned down a deal that would have dropped a kidnapping charge and imposed supervised probation rather than prison for a guilty plea to armed robbery.

Pineda, whose court record consists mainly of traffic violations, apparently wanted unsupervised probation. Martinez would not agree to that.

Pineda has long argued he could not have committed the robbery because he was home with his mother at the time.

But prosecutors say Pineda's small, dark-colored pickup truck bearing his license plate was identified at the scene.

Perhaps it can be said that Pineda's plight is natural justice, harsh karma, punishment with no chance of rehabilitation.

Perhaps it's just a sad series of unfortunate events.

It's a tough call for a judge who wants to be fair both to defendant and victim, to be humane to both the aggrieved and the afflicted.

Mercy rarely cuts both ways.

None of it will matter much, though, if a much higher court gets its turn at Pineda first.