Judge drops murder case, citing speedy trial violation

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A murder case against a man accused of killing his roommate in Nambe has been dismissed.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that a judge ordered Robert Mondrian-Powell set free on Friday. The judge said the state violated Mondrian-Powell's right to a speedy trial, although not intentionally.
Prosecutor Marco Serna declined to comment on the judge's decision.
Jennifer Burrill is Mondrian-Powell's public defender. She twice had asked the court to drop the charges on different grounds.
Police have said the 59-year-old Mondrian-Powell confessed to shooting Elvira Segura in September 2016 after an altercation.
But the medical examiner's office couldn't pinpoint a cause of death because her body was severely decomposed.
Burrill says the 67-year-old Segura could have died from a heart attack or from ingesting rubbing alcohol and amphetamines.