By MILAN SIMONICH
The Santa Fe New Mexican
State Sen. George Muñoz claims criminals roam unchecked in his hometown of Gallup because of a prosecutor’s ineptitude.
“The district attorney has no employees. We have over 600 cases there that are not getting heard,” Muñoz told fellow senators this week during debate on the state budget.
His solution is to cut McKinley County District Attorney Bernadine Martin’s budget by 94%, or $3.88 million. Muñoz, a Democrat who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, shifted the money to the district attorney of neighboring San Juan County.
If Muñoz’s proposal clears the House of Representatives and is signed into law by the governor, San Juan DA Jack Fortner will control the budget of McKinley County’s prosecutor. But Fortner would still need Martin’s cooperation in hiring prosecutors and putting them to work. After all, she was twice elected by McKinley County residents.
“Do I want her budget? No,” Fortner said in a phone interview. “Will my office cooperate with the wishes of the Legislature? Absolutely.”
Martin in a separate interview said Muñoz has unfairly maligned her management of the district attorney’s office.
“Cases are being prosecuted. I don’t know what this man is talking about. To me, it’s a form of harassment,” Martin said.
She has no prosecutors on staff. Muñoz says she ran them off or fired them. In one instance, the senator said, Martin fired an assistant prosecutor in a courtroom.
Martin says she ordered a prosecutor to leave a courtroom after he was disrespectful. Did she fire him? Martin wouldn’t answer, only saying, “He no longer works here.”
She said she now employs two contract prosecutors in the place of full-time staff attorneys. By her count, each of of the lawyers is handling about 250 cases. Martin says her own caseload is 400 to 500.
It’s not as daunting as it might sound, she said. Many of the cases are possession of fentanyl or other drugs that are plea bargained in hopes of getting the defendants into treatment programs.
Martin has many critics besides Muñoz. The Disciplinary Board of the New Mexico Supreme Court reprimanded her in January for a series of rule violations. They included filing a criminal complaint without a factual or legal basis and prosecuting a case not supported by probable cause.
The disciplinary board’s reprimand of Martin said she wrongly filed a criminal charge against Magistrate Judge Brent Detsoi. Martin claimed the judge willfully attempted or presumed to act as a magistrate after being disqualified from a case, a petty misdemeanor.
The disciplinary board chairperson wrote to Martin: “It is notable that the filing of criminal charges against Judge Detsoi was done after your office had filed 91 excusals of Judge Detsoi between March 23 and May 19 of 2023.”
Detsoi himself faces allegations of judicial misconduct that led the state Supreme Court to suspend him last fall.
Martin told me she’s never had a conversation with Muñoz about her management of the district attorney’s office. “It literally makes my skin crawl that he’s doing this,” she said of slashing her budget from more than $3.8 million to $208,000.
Martin would be able to pay her own salary while watching a district attorney from the next county manage nearly all the money.
Even if Muñoz and Martin haven’t communicated directly, it was no secret the senator wants her replaced. Muñoz on the Senate floor inaccurately said Martin was reelected in 2024 without opposition. Muñoz knew better. He donated $1,000 to Grant Birtcher, her opponent in the Democratic primary election.
People who said Martin failed to prosecute homicide cases were among Birtcher’s top campaign contributors. He raised $21,600 in an impoverished part of New Mexico. Martin had only one-tenth as much money, but she won the primary with 57% of the vote.
Martin says lack of housing works against her in staffing the office with full-time prosecutors. Birtcher doesn’t accept her excuse.
“I had five experienced criminal law attorneys lined up to work for me if I’d won the election,” he said.
Not much changes in the state Legislature at this time of year. Majority Democrats shape the state budget, then heap praise on one another. Outnumbered Republicans complain the Democrats’ proposal is irresponsible. Cutting a district attorney’s budget to the bone broke new ground.
“There’s no other solution available,” Muñoz said to fellow senators. “We looked at removing her through the court process. There is no way to do that.”
He’s wrong, of course. A district attorney can be ousted for “gross incompetency or gross negligence”, the very themes of Muñoz’s complaints about Martin.
Mounting a case on those grounds would be a slog. Slashing Martin’s budget might be a more expedient way of diminishing her power.
Martin says Muñoz is using his legislative position to undermine a member of the judicial branch. In an email to fellow District Attorney Fortner, Martin asked, “Are you involved in this coup?”
Fortner said he’s never met Martin. That might soon change. Under Muñoz’s budget maneuver, Fortner could become Martin’s shadow boss.
Editor’s note: Ringside Seat is an opinion column about people, politics and news. Contact Milan Simonich at msimonich@sfnewmexican.com or 505.986.3080.