--- description: It could be the first of many. title: How Body Cams on Cops Brought a Murder Charge in New Mexico image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc03c8c15a961cf36/6987796f3c163973a44511c6/james-boyd.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # How Body Cams on Cops Brought a Murder Charge in New Mexico by [Josh Sanburn](/author/josh-sanburn/) ## Josh Sanburn Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 14, 2015 5:20 PM CUT  In this photo taken from a video on March 16, 2014 James Boyd is shown during a standoff with officers in the Sandia foothills in Albuquerque, N.M., before police fatally shot him. In this photo taken from a video on March 16, 2014 James Boyd is shown during a standoff with officers in the Sandia foothills in Albuquerque, N.M., before police fatally shot him.AP by [Josh Sanburn](/author/josh-sanburn/) ## Josh Sanburn Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 14, 2015 5:20 PM CUT In March 2014, two Albuquerque cops [shot and killed a homeless man](http://time.com/3663978/albuquerque-police-homeless-murder/ "undefined") following a prolonged standoff in the foothills of New Mexico’s Sandia Mountains. It was an incident that could have easily become another instance of a police-related death without enough evidence to bring about formal charges against the cops involved. But a police body camera caught the entire confrontation on [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DngOL6LokN4 "undefined"), providing prosecutors the evidence needed to file formal charges—and perhaps launching a new era of increased prosecutions against cops thanks to the growth of wearable cameras nationwide. Kari Brandenburg, the district attorney for New Mexico’s Bernalillo County, filed [murder charges](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1501560-merged-document.html "undefined") Monday against Keith Sandy and Dominique Perez, the two Albuquerque officers who were involved in the death of James Boyd, a homeless man with a history of mental illness who was camping in the mountain’s foothills. It was an open murder charge against both officers, which will let prosecutors decide whether to pursue manslaughter, first- or second-degree convictions. **MORE** [2 Albuquerque Officers Charged With Murder in Shooting of Homeless Man](http://time.com/3663978/albuquerque-police-homeless-murder/ "undefined") In video released last spring by the Albuquerque Police Department and recorded with a helmet cam used by one of the officers, Boyd is first shown arguing with police before a flashbang goes off. Officers then fire at Boyd as he appears to turn away from police. Boyd, who was carrying two knives, can be heard wheezing on the video as he’s being apprehended before he died. An autopsy later showed that Boyd had been shot twice. “The video is instrumental in pointing out some of the issues in the investigation,” Brandenburg says, adding that the recording provides prosecutors with probable cause in a case that otherwise wouldn’t have it. Advocates of body cameras often argue that recordings of officers on duty provide more transparency regarding police behavior and could even alter that behavior because officers know they’re being recorded. In Rialto, Calif., for instance, the police department began using body-worn cameras a few years ago, and its police chief often touts numbers showing that use-of-force complaints have decreased since officers began using them. But experts say cameras might have an additional side effect: more prosecutions of cops involved in civilian deaths. “Body cams should increase the number of criminal cases brought against police officers,” says Paul Butler, a Georgetown law professor and former federal prosecutor. Oftentimes one of the barriers to prosecuting officers, Butler says, is that trials turn into “credibility contests” between police officers and civilians. But video evidence can go a long way to clearing up discrepancies about what happened while giving prosecutors additional evidence to move forward in a case. **MORE** [‘Ferguson’ is 2014’s Name of the Year](http://time.com/3662263/ferguson-name-of-the-year/ "undefined") “When there is doubt, people believe the police over civilians, especially when the civilians are suspects in some kind of criminal conduct,” Butler says. “Knowing this, prosecutors are often reluctant to bring charges against police officers, even when the prosecutors themselves believe the officers are guilty. Many police departments around the U.S. have started using body worn cameras following the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager killed last year by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo. No video recording of that incident exists, and witnesses disagreed on the circumstances surrounding the confrontation between Brown and Officer Darren Wilson. Brown’s parents have been advocating for police departments to adopt cameras nationwide, believing that video recording of their son’s encounter with Wilson could’ve helped bring grand jury charges against the officer. But cameras have their limitations. The fatal confrontation between Eric Garner and New York City officer Daniel Pantaleo, who placed the Staten Island man in a chokehold in July, was all caught on video by a bystander. Yet a grand jury still decided against bringing murder charges against the officer. “The increased use of cameras both by agencies and by citizens will make it easier for prosecutors and defense lawyers to get a sense of what happened in a fraught encounter,” says Columbia University law professor Dan Richman. “The cases brought against officers may be stronger and the decisions not to charge may be easier. Still, the controversy surrounding the death of Eric Garner highlights how filmed encounters can be deeply contested.” Justin Hansford, a Saint Louis University law professor, says he doesn’t believe more body cameras will necessarily equal more prosecutions because the definition of what constitutes use of force in most states are still weighted heavily in favor of police officers. “The problems we’ve seen in places like Ferguson are not with the amount of evidence but with the laws themselves,” Hansford says. “When you think hard about use of force standards, officers have so much leeway that you have only a few outliers in terms of cases where prosecutions can go forward because of the laws really going above and beyond what is reasonable.” Hansford argues that an increase in police prosecutions could come from a change in those standards, not in more body cameras. “The harm of the body cam is that people think it solves everything,” he says. ### See 23 Key Moments From Ferguson  On Aug. 9, 2014, unarmed teenager Michael Brown was fatally shot by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. This image provided by KMOV-TV shows investigators inspecting Brown's body. Tiffany Mitchell—AP  Lesley McSpadden, Brown's mother, is comforted by her husband, Louis Head, on Aug. 9, 2014, after her son's death Huy Mach—St. Louis Post-Dispatch/AP  A fire burns at a QuikTrip store in Ferguson on Aug. 10, 2014, as protests turned violent one day after Brown's death. The night marked the first violent turn for the protests. David Carson—St. Louis Post-Dispatch/AP  Heavily-armed police advance on a protester on Aug. 11, 2014\. Law enforcement's tactical response, which included military-grade weapons, tanks and SWAT teams, touched off a debate over the militarization of local police forces. Whitney Curtis—The New York Times/Redux  A protester takes shelter from billowing smoke during demonstrations in Ferguson on Aug. 13, 2014\. Such scenes were relatively common during the first week of protests. David Carson—St. Louis Post-Dispatch/AP  A demonstrator throws back a tear gas container after tactical officers worked to break up a group of bystanders on Chambers Road near West Florissant in Ferguson on Aug. 13, 2014. Robert Cohen—St. Louis Post-Dispatch/MCT/Zuma Press  Captain Ron Johnson of the Missouri Highway Patrol addresses the media in Ferguson on Aug. 15, 2014\. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon appointed NIxon to coordinate law enforcement's response after local departments were criticized for fanning the flames. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  Darren Wilson at a Ferguson city council meeting on Feb. 11, 2014\. The image was the first widely-circulated photo of Wilson after the shooting. City of Ferguson/AP  Tear gas rains down on a woman kneeling in the street with her hands in the air during a demonstration in Ferguson on Aug. 17, 2014\. The "hands up, don't shoot" pose became the defining gesture of the protests. Scott Olson—Getty Images  Police in Ferguson fire tear gas in the direction of bottle-throwing crowds on Aug. 18, 2014. David Carson—St Louis Post-Dispatch / Polaris  Law enforcement officers look on during a protest on West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson on Aug. 18, 2014. Michael B. Thomas—AFP/Getty Images  U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder appeared with Capt. Ron Johnson at Drake's Place Restaurant in Ferguson on Aug. 20, 2014\. Holder's visit was meant to calm tensions after almost 10 days of protests. Pablo Martinez Monsivais—Pool/Getty Images  An anguished Michael Brown, Sr. yells as his son's casket is lowered into the ground at St. Peter's Cemetery in St. Louis, Mo., on Aug. 25, 2014. Richard Perry—Reuters  Members of the Ferguson Police Department wear body cameras during a rally on Aug. 30, 2014, in Ferguson. Like a number of departments around the U.S., Ferguson police began using the wearable cameras after Michael Brown was killed. There are no video recordings of the incident involving Brown and officer Darren Wilson. Aaron P. Bernstein—Getty Images  A fire on Sept. 23, 2014 burned a memorial for Michael Brown on the site where he was killed. The memorial was later rebuilt. Jacob Crawford—AP  Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson, left, addresses protesters in front of the Ferguson Police Department, on Sept. 25, 2014\. Protesters have called for Jackson to resign. Robert Cohen—St. Louis Post-Dispatch/AP  Demonstrators participate at a rally on the campus of St. Louis University on Oct. 13, 2014\. Citizens around St. Louis continued to demonstrate throughout October, including during a performance by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and at a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game. Scott Olson—Getty Images  Academic Cornel West is taken into custody after performing an act of civil disobedience at the Ferguson, Mo., police station on Oct. 13, 2014. Charles Rex Arbogast—AP  Lesley McSpadden, Michael Brown's mother, attends a press conference addressing the U.N. Committee Against Torture, in Geneva, Switzerland, on Nov. 12, 2014\. Brown's parents testified in front of the committee about their son's death. Martial Trezzini—EPA  After the announcement that the grand jury brought no charges against Darren Wilson, police officers and protesters faced off on a tense night in which cars and buildings were burned by protesters and tear gas thrown by police, in Ferguson, Mo. on Nov. 24, 2014. Jim Young—Reuters  On March 4, 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice released two reports clearing Officer Wilson of any civil rights violations when he shot and killed Brown but found a pattern of explicit racism and unfair treatment of minorities by Ferguson police officers and local officials. Carolyn Kaster—AP  Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson stepped down March 11, 2015, after a federal report harshly criticized the police department, becoming the sixth Ferguson official to resign since the investigation. Scott Olson—Getty Images  Two police officers were shot outside the Ferguson Police Department March 12, 2015, during a demonstration that followed the resignation of the agency’s embattled police chief. The two officers—one from Webster Groves, Mo., the other from St. Louis County—were seriously injured. 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