Former school resource officer sentenced in child abuse case

Judge’s decision draws markedly different reactions

FARMINGTON — A former Farmington school resource officer who pleaded guilty in November to child abuse and battery charges in regard to a 2019 altercation with an 11-year-old female student will serve no jail time. That decision drew a sharp rebuke from the state’s top law enforcement official but was praised by the officer’s attorney.

Judge Curtis Gurley sentenced Zachary Christensen on Jan. 14 to three years of conditional discharge suspension, which the judge said carries the standard conditions of probation. An agreement was entered Nov. 4 in which Christensen pleaded guilty to a thirddegree felony count of child abuse and a misdemeanor count of battery. Christensen had two petty misdemeanor counts of battery dismissed as part of the agreement.

New Mexico Attorney Genera Hector Balderas, whose office prosecuted the case, expressed dissatisfaction with the sentence. Prosecutors had sought the maximum three-year sentence for Christensen.

“We were able to secure a conviction in this case, yet the sentence is highly disappointing,” he said in a statement issued through his office.

The Attorney General’s Office prosecuted the case after the San Juan County District Attorney’s Office decided not to file charges against Christensen.

Julita Ann Leavell, the attorney representing Christensen, had a very different perspective on the judge’s deci

sion, singling out Balderas’ office for criticism.

“First, great thank you to Judge Gurley for his fairness and justice,” she said in a statement issued to The Daily Times. “Second, I do feel this was a just result after a long, drawn out matter that was made infinitely worse by the overly zealous prosecution by the Attorney General’s Office after the case had been declined by the State Police and the District Attorney’s Office. The media smear campaign created and embellishments offered by the AG’s office to pursue this matter through the court system was ethically questionable and lacked all decency.”

Christensen resigned from the Farmington Police Department on Oct. 1, 2019.