Hobbs police officer testifies in civil rights lawsuit
/Rodney Porter, a Hobbs police officer accused of
violating a man's rights testified he lied repeatedly to his
supervisors in the mid-1990s about failing to file evidence in criminal
cases as an officer in Midland, Texas. Porter was the first witness
Monday in the federal court trial of a civil rights lawsuit filed by
Jimmie Marshall, 58, an electrician now living in Ruidoso, against
Porter, Hobbs police Sgt. Walter Royce and former Chief Tony Knott. The
lawsuit alleges Porter violated Marshall's rights to equal protection
and to be free from unreasonable search and seizure in a December 1996
arrest. Marshall, who is black, contends the traffic stop was racially
based. Marshall contends Porter stopped him without just cause, accused
him of being on crack cocaine and obtained a blood sample without his
consent after Marshall passed a breath test. [more 
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