Prosecutor responds to charges
DA’s attorney calls case ‘payback’ for drug task force comments
The attorney for 6th Judicial District Attorney Francesca Martinez-Estevez in southern New Mexico says the dangerous driving and ethics charges against his client are a political attack and “payback” for publicly talking about irregularities found in a regional drug task force evidence storage.
Martinez-Estevez, who serves Grant, Luna and Hidalgo counties, was the subject of an investigation after a traffic stop in June 2016 in which she was suspected of being drunk while driving, but was not given a sobriety test and instead released from the scene without charges.
The state Attorney General’s Office last week filed reckless driving, ethics and misuse of office charges against her, saying she misused her state vehicle for private business the day she was stopped and that she then harassed the officers investigating the incident. All the charges are misdemeanors or petty misdemeanors.
Her attorney, Jim Foy of Silver City, released a statement Tuesday saying Martinez-Estevez was targeted for publicly discussing the drug task force irregularities just months before the stop. The irregularities were reported in an audit of the Region VII Drug Task Force and Estevez said publicly the finding could jeopardize many cases she was prosecuting.
“This is a shameful political attack against Ms. Estevez when it is undisputed that she cooperated with all requests of every officer and did not ask for any special treatment,” Foy said in his statement.
Charges were never filed by the Silver City Police Department, Grant County Sheriff’s Office or the New Mexico State Police. That sparked outcry from police agencies and from politicians in the state who asked Attorney General Hector Balderas’ office to investigate. The AG’s Office’s charging documents list Francesca Martinez-Estevez as just Francesca Estevez.