Staff Report

The New Mexico Court of Appeals has assigned the case of Scott Mallory to the general calendar. A decision by First Judicial District Judge T. Glenn Ellington May 18 to suppress evidence found on Scott Mallory’s computer was appealed by the District Attorney’s office after Judge Ellington ruled that Mallory’s spousal privilege was violated and information on his computer and any statements made by Mallory to police were to be suppressed.

Mallory was arrested by Los Alamos Police Department in January 2016 and charged with sexual exploitation of children under 18 years by visual media. The appeal filed May 24 by Deputy District Attorney Kent Wahlquist states the District Court erred in finding that Mallory’s wife told the police Mallory was “possibly viewing child pornography” when there was no evidence of such a statement by her.

It states that the search warrant narrative said her statements to police were that she accidently found  photos of naked girls that appeared to be underaged on Mallory’s computer. It also states that the District Court erred in ruling that Mallory’s alleged communication to his wife protects her from disclosing her subsequent discovery of child pornography on Mallory’s computer.

Wahlquist said Monday that the assignment to the general calendar means that the Court of Appeals changed its mind about a summary disposition and now both sides will file more briefs and the Court will set the case for oral arguments before rendering a final decision. It is expected that the case will take several more months to be resolved.