Balderas ruled out as witness in Griego trial

AG’s Office can remain prosecutor in ex-legislator’s corruption case

A state district judge on Friday barred former state Sen. Phil Griego from calling Attorney General Hector Balderas — the man prosecuting him — as a defense witness in his coming corruption trial.

Judge Brett Loveless ruled Friday in a pretrial hearing that Balderas won’t testify in the trial, unless circumstances change.

The ruling means the Attorney General’s Office can remain as the prosecutor in the case.

Griego, a Democrat who resigned in 2015, is accused of using his former legislative position to pocket a $50,000 broker’s fee in the sale of a historic state-owned building.

Griego had sought to call Balderas as a witness in his defense — to testify about a conversation the two allegedly had about whether Griego had done anything wrong, long before charges were filed. Griego says Balderas, who was not yet the attorney general, told him that he’d done nothing wrong.

Balderas denies that he discussed the building sale with Griego or said his conduct was OK.

Tom Clark, Griego’s attorney, said the conversation would show that Griego had no intent to commit a crime. In fact, Clark said, Griego was telling other people — Balderas included — about his involvement and even asking for advice.

But Loveless said other witness are already expected to testify on that point. Balderas doesn’t have vital, exclusive information that would allow him to be forced to testify, the judge said.

Calling Balderas, the prosecutors’ supervisor, to testify at trial would “create an issue that’s a complete sideshow,” Loveless said.

“It doesn’t really get to the meat of whether Mr. Griego is guilty or not.”

What isn’t in dispute is that Griego and Balderas met, however briefly, in 2014, when Griego delivered a $1,500 donation from his political committee to Balderas, then the state auditor and a candidate for attorney general.

Loveless ruled Friday that the trial won’t include any testimony about what was said in the meeting. But other witnesses called by the defense — including some of Griego’s former colleagues in the Legislature — can be used to shed light on Griego’s state of mind around the time of the building deal, the judge said.

Griego faces two sets of charges, although he contends he didn’t do anything wrong and was open with others about his role in the real-estate deal.

One set of charges — including fraud and bribery, centering on the real estate deal — will go to trial the week of Oct. 30 in Santa Fe. The other charges, which include filing a false campaign report, will be set for trial later.

Griego, who lives in San Miguel County, served 18 years in the New Mexico Senate.