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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.

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 Martin Maxwell said in court he's been working on the case since he got it. He declined comment on the judge's ruling.

Public defender Jennifer Burrill twice 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.