State police on Wednesday cited the now-defunct WilLee's Blues Club and its bartender for overserving Carlos Fierro the night he struck and killed a pedestrian while allegedly driving drunk in November.

The Guadalupe Street bar, now operating as Corazón under new ownership, and bartender Eric Mehlman were issued administrative citations, which count against the liquor license and Mehlman's server's license, said Peter Olson, state police spokesman. The bar also allegedly overserved Alfred Lovato, the former state police sergeant who was riding in the passenger seat of Fierro's BMW when it struck William Tenorio of San Felipe Pueblo on Nov. 26, according to a news release.

Efforts to reach Mehlman on Wednesday were not successful. But at Fierro's preliminary hearing in February, he testified that while he knew Fierro from previous visits to WilLee's and another bar where Mehlman worked in the past, he didn't remember seeing him that night.

Olson said Mehlman also told agents from the state police's Special Investigations Division he didn't remember seeing Fierro that night. He was nonetheless charged because he was the only bartender working that night, Olson said. Also figuring into the charges were the facts that witnesses saw Fierro and Lovato drinking at WilLee's, and that both had enough alcohol in their systems immediately after the crash to merit the citations, he said.

Fierro's blood-alcohol content was .21, according to Santa Fe police. Officers administered a breath-alcohol test to Lovato after the crash, though Santa Fe police have declined to release the result. Olson said it was more than .14 — the threshold for cutting off a person in a bar — though he pointed out that the test was not exact and not recognized as accurate by the state crime lab.

"It gives an indication, but it's not an accurate level," Olson said.

A Seattle corporation that had leased a liquor license to WilLee's owners now leases the same license to Corazón, said Soren Uhl, Corazón's manager. However, he said, Corazón is not affiliated with WilLee's.

Olson said Special Investigations Division investigators don't know how many drinks Fierro or Lovato consumed at WilLee's because Fierro paid cash for their tab, meaning an itemized credit-card receipt doesn't exist. Fierro withdrew more than $100 from an ATM that night, Olson said. Mehlman testified at the preliminary hearing that there was an ATM inside WilLee's, though Olson didn't know if Fierro utilized that machine.

Before going to WilLee's, Lovato and Fierro spent from about 8 p.m. until midnight at the Humidor room of the Rio Chama Steakhouse, according to testimony at the preliminary hearing. Their tab included one Tanqueray gin and tonic, a Crown Royal whiskey and Diet Coke, four shots of Crown Royal neat, seven draft beers — including two 22-ounce glasses and five 16-ounce glasses — and three Coors Light beers, said Jeff Jinnett, president of the company that owns Rio Chama.

The waiter who served Fierro and Lovato said Fierro drank Coors Light and Crown Royal. Another man who joined them testified to drinking one draft beer during the three hours he spent with Fierro and Lovato.

Neither of the two Rio Chama employees who waited on Fierro, Lovato and the other man was cited by state police. Olson said investigators didn't have enough evidence to cite those employees for overserving the men.

Gov. Bill Richardson, who is known to frequent the Rio Chama, was also at the Humidor for about an hour the same night Fierro and Lovato were there, though he never saw them, his spokesman told The New Mexican in January. Richardson smoked a cigar and drank a Perrier sparkling water that night, Gilbert Gallegos has said. The Rio Chama is owned by Gerald Peters, a local businessman and Richardson supporter.

Olson said Richardson directed SID Director Herman Silva to "thoroughly and accurately" investigate where the two men received alcohol that night and "issue the appropriate citations."

Fierro allegedly fled the scene after striking Tenorio — a father of three — and was later pulled over on Marcy Street in front of the Santa Fe Community Convention Center. After February's preliminary hearing, a state District Court judge found probable cause to charge Fierro with vehicular homicide and causing a fatal accident. Lovato has not yet been charged in connection with the incident, though a special prosecutor is examining evidence against him.

Tenorio died later the same day of the crash from head and internal injuries.

Contact Jason Auslander at 986-3076 or :jauslander@sfnewmexican.com.