SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 41

47th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2006

INTRODUCED BY

Mary Kay Papen

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE THIRD JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT AND THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY IN THE THIRD JUDICIAL DISTRICT TO WITHDRAW THEIR SUPPORT FOR CONSOLIDATION OF THE COURTS IN THE CITY OF LAS CRUCES AND DONA ANA COUNTY PENDING FURTHER REVIEW OF THE BENEFITS AND CONSEQUENCES.

     WHEREAS, a well-documented study of the Bernalillo county metropolitan court system by the administrative office of the courts concluded that "based on current attitudes and experiences... the public and lawyers are still critical of long waits, delays, expense (in time and money) and frustration"; and

     WHEREAS, newspaper articles published since 2000 suggest the Bernalillo county metropolitan court system has continued to experience problems reporting that "tardiness, rudeness and a tendency to go easy on offenders are among the reasons a court watch group is recommending that half of the fourteen metro court judges who hear criminal matters should not be retained in this election"; and

     WHEREAS, other newspaper articles have documented misconduct by Bernalillo county judges and judicial impropriety among judges in Bernalillo county; and

     WHEREAS, in spite of warnings in 1979 from the New Mexico director of the administrative office of the courts that the legislature was trying to do in one session what it had taken Alabama six years to implement, the legislature rushed through the creation of the metropolitan court system in one year; and

     WHEREAS, according to the administrative office of the courts' report, the Bernalillo county metropolitan court system has been plagued by administrative problems from the beginning, as evidenced by reports that case loads immediately increased by twenty-five percent, clogging up court operations and "causing the court to unravel"; and

     WHEREAS, a report by the Albuquerque Journal said that "people are getting a horrible view of justice in America", and a report that in the second year of operation, one lawyer characterized the system as "still a zoo"; and

     WHEREAS, in a survey of lawyers practicing in Bernalillo county in 1983, three years after it began operations, the Albuquerque Tribune summarized their characterization of the metro court as "chaos"; and

     WHEREAS, the "Dona Ana County Court Consolidation Committee Report", written for the New Mexico legislature, the Las Cruces city council and the Dona Ana board of county commissioners estimates the cost of moving to a consolidated court system in Dona Ana county would triple costs from the current fiscal year 2005 figure of three million three hundred ninety-six thousand five hundred ten dollars ($3,396,510) for all magistrate and municipal courts in the county to eleven million nine thousand nine hundred six dollars ($11,009,906) for a consolidated court, while at the same time reducing the total number of judges from ten to seven;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the third judicial district court, the district attorney of the third judicial district and the city of Las Cruces withdraw their support for consolidation of the courts in the city of Las Cruces and Dona Ana county pending further review of the benefits and consequences; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the administrative office of the courts, the third judicial district court, the district attorney in the third judicial district and the mayor of the city of Las Cruces.

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