Government job for felon defended
Public defender hired mastermind of Metro Court overcharging
Toby Martinez, of Metro Courthouse scandal infamy, now works as a paralegal for the Law Offices of the Public Defender.
The public awareness of his government job, which he started last November, has caused some alarm, but Chief Public Defender Bennett Baur says Martinez isn’t in charge of any money.
Plus, he points out, state law prohibits a criminal conviction from automatically disqualifying a person from a government job.
“The Law Offices of the Public Defender of all people, of all agencies believes someone should have a chance as long as they are properly supervised,” said Chief Public Defender Bennett Baur.
Ken Stalter, with the Office of the Attorney General, on Thursday questioned the decision, however.
“Hiring an individual that has been convicted of a crime of dishonesty could lead to unnecessary litigation and conflict,” he wrote in a statement to the Journal.
Martinez was sentenced to serve 5½ years in federal prison and pay $2.7 million in restitution in 2009 for his central role in skimming $4.3 million from the construction of the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Courthouse, which he oversaw as court administrator.
In 2001, he worked with a political heavyweight, thenstate Sen. Manny Aragon to craft a plan to conspire with the project architect and audio-visual planners to overcharge for the system and pocket the money.
He pleaded guilty to taking more than $2 million and was forced to forfeit more than $300,000 in assets, including a Lexus, a home and four bank accounts. He was allowed to keep his pension. He was released from prison in 2013.
His wife, Sandra Martinez, who helped in the scheme, was sentenced to five years’ probation and ordered to pay $106,000 in restitution.
After his release, Martinez reported in a brief by his lawyer, Brian Pori, that he couldn’t get work “due to the poor job market for convicted felons.”
“He is kind of a perfect person for that job,” Pori said. “He’s coming in contact with people who commit crimes. What you want to model for people is ‘you were convicted of a crime, and you can come back from that.’ ” State law prohibits a criminal conviction from being an automatic disqualification for government employment.
Baur said Thursday that Martinez was forthcoming about his past when he applied to be a senior paralegal in the Albuquerque office of the public defender.
The position, which pays about $41,000 annually, calls for working with lawyers and clients to organize paperwork, conduct interviews and keep cases on track. It does not require a degree, and Martinez does not have a paralegal certificate. Pori said Martinez pays 25 percent of his net income to restitution.
Baur said Martinez was the most qualified applicant for the job, which he began in November 2017.
“His résumé is impressive. He ran the Metro Court. That takes skills. It takes social skills. It takes knowledge,” Baur said.
“He is not handling money. Of course I think it would be a concern for the public. It’s a concern for us, but also if someone can do the job and be supervised, he should have the opportunity to show he is rehabilitated.”