Courts

Supreme Court Chief Justice Bacon To Highlight New Mexico Eviction Prevention Efforts At White House Summit

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Supreme Court Chief Justice C. Shannon Bacon

NMSC News:

SANTA FE – Supreme Court Chief Justice C. Shannon Bacon will speak next week at a White House event on eviction prevention initiatives in cities and states.

The Chief Justice will highlight a court-based program phased in across New Mexico. 

The White House summit on eviction prevention reform will be held virtually starting at 10:30 a.m. MT, Tuesday, Aug. 2. 

“The Eviction Prevention and Diversion program offers help to tenants and landlords, lessening the risk that financially vulnerable New Mexicans will lose their housing,” Chief Read More

AG Balderas: Albuquerque Man Faces Up To 358 Years In Prison After Guilty Verdicts On Multiple Counts Of Manufacturing, Possessing Child Abuse Material

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From the Office of the Attorney General:

ALBUQUERQUE — Today, New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas announced today that a jury found Pablo Griego guilty of 30 counts related to child sexual abuse material.

Following a week-long trial, Griego was found guilty of all charges by a Bernalillo County jury and will be sentenced at a later date. Griego also has a prior criminal sexual penetration of a minor allegation from 2006.

“Today’s verdict sends a strong message to those that revictimize our children, and my office will go after you to the highest extent of the law,” Attorney General Balderas Read More

FBI: Las Cruces Woman Gets Four Years In Prison For Embezzling Over $1 Million, Wire Fraud, False Tax Returns

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FBI News:

ALBUQUERQUE — Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, announced that Sandra Roberto was sentenced to four years and three months in prison for wire fraud and false and fraudulent tax returns.

Roberto, 44, of Las Cruces pleaded guilty Jan. 29, 2021.

According to the plea agreement and other court records, Roberto began working for Mesilla Valley Transportation (MVT) in 2009, first as a fuel clerk and later in the accounting office. Beginning in 2011 and continuing to 2018, Roberto exploited her position to embezzle approximately $1,130,215 Read More

New Mexico Supreme Court Rules On DNA Evidence

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Justice Briana H. Zamora

AOC News:

SANTA FE — The state Supreme Court Thursday affirmed a district court’s decision granting a new trial for a Roswell man because DNA test results have raised questions about his conviction for a fatal shooting in 2012.

In unanimously reaching that conclusion, the Court outlined a process for judges to follow in deciding whether to grant a new trial or other relief based on DNA test results obtained after a person was convicted of a crime.

The opinion addressed legal issues that had not previously been decided by New Mexico’s highest court concerning a state law Read More

FBI: Woman Indicted For Assaulting Federal Officer

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FBI News:

ALBUQUERQUE — Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, and Raul Bujanda, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office, announced that Henryetta John was arraigned July 11 on an indictment charging her with assault on a federal officer inflicting bodily injury.

John, 29, of Santo Domingo, N.M. and a member of the Pueblo of Santo Domingo, will remain on conditions of release pending trial.

A federal grand jury indicted John, June 15. As alleged in the indictment, Oct. 20, 2021, John forcibly assaulted and resisted a federal law enforcement Read More

FBI: Taos Woman Facing Tampering Charges 

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FBI News:

ALBUQUERQUE – Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, and Raul Bujanda, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office, announced today that Genevieve McDonald has been charged with tampering with a witness, victim or an informant.

McDonald, 60, and an enrolled member of the Taos Pueblo, will remain on conditions of release pending trial, which has not been scheduled.

According to the complaint, beginning May 4, McDonald allegedly began calling, texting and messaging a person identified in court records as Jane Doe. Despite repeated Read More

New Mexico Public Regulation Commission-Approved Community Solar Rule Now Legally Binding 

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STATE News:

SANTA FE —The Community Solar Rule, which was unanimously adopted by the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (PRC) in March 2022, has been filed in the New Mexico Register by New Mexico Commission of Public Records, making it now effective.

A copy of the rule published in the New Mexico Register can be viewed at https://www.srca.nm.gov/nmac/nmregister/xxxiii/17.9.573.pdf

In April 2021, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed into law the Community Solar Act, which called on the PRC to draft and approve the rules of the community solar program. The community solar program allows Read More

FBI: Meredith Yazzie Gets Eight Years For Assault

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FBI News:

ALBUQUERQUE — Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, announced that Meredith Yazzie, 51, of To’hajiilee, New Mexico, was sentenced July 12 to eight years and four months in prison.

Yazzie pleaded guilty Sept. 13, 2021, to assault in Indian Country resulting in serious bodily injury and assaulting a federal officer.

In his plea agreement, Yazzie admitted that May 25, 2020, he intentionally stabbed a man in the torso with a knife, causing a puncture to the man’s heart and lungs. During his apprehension June 11, 2020, Yazzie raised a hatchet menacingly Read More

Santa Fe City Council Approves Ordinance Limiting Debt-Based Driver’s License Suspensions

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Courtesy/Fines And Fees Justice Center (FFJC)

FFJC News:

SANTA FE — The Santa Fe City Council unanimously passed a new ordinance Wednesday night that limits the widespread practice of suspending driver’s licenses when residents can’t afford to immediately pay a fine or fee.

Currently, thousands of New Mexicans can’t legally drive simply because they are trapped in a cycle of debt and their access to safe and legal transportation is limited. Over a recent three-year period, New Mexico suspended over 215,000 residents’ driver’s licenses because the person could not afford to pay their court Read More

New Mexico Supreme Court Issues Opinion Allowing Admissibility Of Now-Deceased Assault Victim’s Statements

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New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas

From the Office of the Attorney General:

ALBUQUERQUE — New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas announced Thursday that the New Mexico Supreme Court issued an opinion in State v. Oliver Tsosie, which will allow the admission at trial of most of the now-deceased sexual assault victim’s statements to a sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE).

The defendant has been charged with criminal sexual penetration and kidnapping, among other crimes, for his attack on the victim, his former boyfriend. After the attack, during which the victim was raped, Read More