When Carlos Fierro was pulled over on suspicion of drunken driving in April 1997, he put a penny in his mouth before the officer administered a Breathalyzer test , a police report shows.

The officer who pulled him over — after spotting Fierro going the wrong way on a one-way downtown Albuquerque street — noticed the coin when he checked Fierro's mouth, the report states. Fierro later failed sobriety tests, and his breath-alcohol content was measured at 0.14, the report says. The current legal limit is 0.08.

An urban myth holds that if a person who has been drinking puts a penny in his mouth before breath-alcohol testing, the copper in the coin will defeat the test or force the Breathalyzer to malfunction. The myth is debunked on Internet sites such as Snopes.com and About.com.

Four months after the arrest, Metropolitan Court records show, the District Attorney's Office dismissed the DWI case against Fierro without prejudice — meaning it could have been refiled. Gary Cade, a chief deputy at the Second Judicial District Attorney's Office in Albuquerque, said Wednesday that the case file had been destroyed because it was more than 10 years old.

As a result, he said, he couldn't explain why the case was dismissed. He also said he didn't know what that office's DWI policy had been at the time. Currently, the office will prosecute every DWI case it receives provided that admissible evidence exists to support a conviction, Cade said.

Santa Fe police say Fierro, a lawyer with a history of doing government work, was behind the wheel of a black BMW 530i that fatally struck William Tenorio as the 46-year-old San Felipe Pueblo resident tried to cross Guadalupe Street about 2 a.m. on Nov. 26. Fierro, who fled the scene, appeared drunk after he was pulled over minutes later, though police have said they couldn't get an adequate breath sample from him at the time.

Medical personnel at Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center drew blood from Fierro, but police have not yet received testing results on the sample, Santa Fe Deputy Police Chief Aric Wheeler said Wednesday.

Court documents state a passenger in Fierro's car, state police Sgt. Alfred Lovato — a member of Gov. Bill Richardson's security detail — also appeared drunk.

Police found an empty Coors Light beer can in the glove box.

Fierro faces charges of vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of a fatal accident. Lovato has not been charged with anything, though police have said he could face a count of failing to render aid. Lovato has been placed on administrative leave pending an internal investigation.

After the car hit Tenorio, his body was left lying in Guadalupe Street in front of WilLee's Blues Club. The local disc jockey and father of three died the next day of neck and head injuries.

Fierro has worked as an attorney for U.S. Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., and U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in Washington, D.C. He recently moved back to New Mexico, where he also has a history of state government work.

According to the state Personnel Office, Fierro worked for the Attorney General's Office in January and February 1996, was a seasonal worker for the Public Defender's Office from June to September of 1996, did work for the House and Senate of the New Mexico Legislature in January 1999 to March 1999 and worked as an intern for the state Public Regulation Commission from October 1999 to December 1999.

He briefly was a candidate for election to the PRC in 2004.

Other details of the hit-and-run investigation came to light Wednesday.

Santa Fe police said they are trying to obtain information from a television anchorwoman who either received communication from Fierro just after the crash, communicated with him at that time or both, Wheeler said. Detectives have known since the day of the crash about possible communications between Fierro and Marla Tellez, a news anchor at KOB-TV, he said.

Erika Poindexter, Tellez's attorney, said Wednesday that her client was not involved in the crash or at the scene. She said Tellez arrived at the station in Albuquerque for work not long after the crash occurred and couldn't have had any role in it.

"What they seem to be concerned about is if (Fierro) sent her any correspondence after the accident," Poindexter said.

Police haven't requested an interview with Tellez, she said. Poindexter characterized Fierro and Tellez as friends. The attorney said the two had met in June but were not particularly close.

KOB News director Jamie Ioos confirmed that a station employee has been asked by detectives investigating Tenorio's death to provide information, but she declined to name the employee.

"One of our employees will be talking to the Santa Fe Police Department concerning the accident last Wednesday involving Carlos Fierro," Ioos said. "Our employee was a friend of Fierro's but was not present at the accident scene or involved in the accident."

Poindexter has told police Tellez will cooperate with the investigation, Wheeler said.

Police who searched Fierro's car found a Blackberry cell phone, according to a search warrant. Wheeler said police were in the process of examining the telecommunications device Wednesday and would almost certainly be in contact with anyone who received calls, e-mails or text messages from the device the night Tenorio was killed.

Detectives have learned from witnesses that Fierro and Lovato may have been with a woman at WilLee's on Guadalupe Street before the accident, Wheeler said. However, the woman may not necessarily have been out with the two men, he said.

Police also are continuing to investigate whether a third person might have been in the BMW on the night of the accident. Wheeler said only one witness has reported possibly seeing someone in the back seat at the time of the crash, and that witness could not tell if it was a man or a woman.

Police filed a search warrant Wednesday that shows they received credit card receipts and the guest check from purchases that Fierro and Lovato made at the Rio Chama Steakhouse that night. Wheeler declined to say what was on the bill.

Fierro told police in an initial interview he and Lovato left WilLee's after being threatened by other bar patrons. When they later returned to the bar to retrieve Fierro's credit card, Fierro said a group of people on the sidewalk in front of WilLee's began yelling profanities at them, according to court documents. Fierro said that when he saw his windshield break, he thought one of the people had thrown a rock at his car, the documents state.

Lovato, his passenger, also has been interviewed by investigators, but Wheeler has declined to release his account of what happened. Police also obtained a breath alcohol sample from Lovato, though Wheeler hasn't released any test results.

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