Carlos Fierro wants a state district judge to postpone his vehicular homicide trial to allow the "multiple experts" hired by his defense team more time to study evidence and form opinions, according to a motion filed this week.

Fierro, 36, is scheduled to stand trial beginning Sept. 8 on charges that he struck a pedestrian while driving drunk in Santa Fe last November and then fled the scene.

However, prosecutors only recently provided some documents that must be analyzed by Fierro's lawyers and his experts, says the latest in a series of defense motions that raise issues concerning the evidence against Fierro and the 46-year-old San Felipe Pueblo man who was killed, William Tenorio.

One of the defense experts — a toxicologist — is "to testify regarding the interaction of alcohol and apparent downer class of narcotics" in the body of Tenorio, according to the motion filed Monday by Jason Bowles, one of four lawyers hired by Fierro.

District Attorney Angela "Spence" Pacheco said Wednesday she has never heard that any narcotics were found in blood taken from Tenorio, whom police say was fatally struck as he crossed Guadalupe Street after leaving a bar. "This is all news to me," she said.

Bowles did not return a phone message Wednesday seeking comment.

State Department of Health spokeswoman Deborah Busemeyer said Wednesday that a drug screen conducted by the agency's Scientific Lab Division on Tenorio's blood came up negative for drugs.

The lab conducts drug and alcohol screens for the Office of Medical Investigator after a person dies, Busemeyer said. However, the lab generally only conducts a drug screen on a living person if that person's blood-alcohol content measures below or near the legal driving limit, or if the lab receives a special request, she said.

The lab did not conduct a drug screen on Fierro, she said.

Fierro — a lawyer who previously worked in Washington, D.C., for then-Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. — fled the scene on Guadalupe Street after striking Tenorio in the early morning hours before Thanksgiving Day. Fierro's damaged car was pulled over by police minutes later near the Santa Fe Community Convention Center. His blood-alcohol content was later determined to have been .21, more than two and a half times the legal driving limit, after the crash.

Both Fierro and his passenger, former state police Sgt. Alfred Lovato, have each been charged with vehicular homicide and causing a fatal accident. Both men have pleaded not guilty.

Besides the toxicologist, experts hired by Fierro include an accident reconstructionist and a "human factors" expert, the motion says.

Fierro's lawyers must still conduct 10 to 15 more witness interviews for the case, the motion states. They asked District Judge Michael Vigil to grant a 90-day extension.

The district attorney said Wednesday she hadn't yet seen the defense motion filed Monday but is opposed to delaying the trial. "The state is ready and prepared to go to trial," she said.

The motion to put off the trial might come up at a hearing scheduled today regarding several defense motions. Judge Vigil is expected to rule on at least some of the eight motions filed by the defense in recent weeks.

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