Erratic DA will say anything but goodbye
Small-town defense lawyer Jim Foy has a busy practice with a spider’s web of interconnections. His dealings with and on behalf of one elected prosecutor raise the question of whether the justice system can be impartial in New Mexico.
Foy, of Silver City, is defending Francesca Estevez, the district attorney of Grant, Luna and Hidalgo counties. She has been charged by the state attorney general with five misdemeanors for her bizarre and unethical conduct last spring. Foy also is representing at least two defendants who recently were charged with high-profile crimes and are being prosecuted by Estevez.
It’s a messy circle, full of conflicts of interest and unanswered questions. I phoned Estevez to ask if she would resign from office or seek outside counsel to handle cases in which her office is prosecuting people that Foy is defending. Her staff bounced my call to voicemail, and I never received an answer from Estevez.
I called Foy’s office, too, asking how he would reconcile his defense of District Attorney Estevez while seeking plea bargains from her or trying cases against her staff. He didn’t respond, either.
Estevez, 62, only recently was charged with crimes, but she has hidden behind Foy for a year, saying only he could answer questions about her professional behavior.
While driving a state car last spring, Estevez weaved across a road at high speed. Her erratic driving was preserved on video by an alert motorist. State police and Silver City police questioned Estevez soon after. They were well aware of the possibility that she was intoxicated, but they proved gutless. The police let her go without ordering her to take a sobriety test.
Only one officer, a Silver City rookie named Kyle Spurgeon, showed any interest in whether Estevez was a danger to those on roadways. He told fellow cops during the videotaped inquiry that Estevez appeared “loaded.”
Soon after, Estevez went to Spurgeon’s superiors and called him a racist. In police reports I obtained under the state public records law, Cpl. Jason Woods of the Silver City police quoted Estevez: “She said of all the rabid Nazi bigots to choose from, [Spurgeon] hates people of color.”
Estevez also accused Spurgeon of trying to retaliate against her because she knew his past. Estevez claimed that Spurgeon, as a high school student, had threatened Jewish people in a case that came to the attention of prosecutors. In fact, Spurgeon had nothing to do with the case that Estevez cited, but she attacked him on the hope that police officers would listen to and defer to the judgment of a district attorney who wanted a young cop fired or at least intimidated.
State Sen. Howie Morales, D-Silver City, asked the attorney general to investigate Estevez, who’s also a Democrat. Morales said she appeared to have received preferential treatment from police, then tried to ruin the one officer who questioned her sobriety.
Estevez continued her smear campaign, but did a terrible job of covering her tracks.
More public records I obtained show that Estevez phoned Arthur Quintana, a probation officer in Silver City, to claim that Sen. Morales had improperly used his influence to get his brother, Eric Morales, a state job.
“I received a troubling phone call from District Attorney Francesca Estevez,” Quintana wrote in an email to his superiors. “… DA Estevez then informed this officer that she received a complaint that probation and parole officer Eric Morales did not have experience, but was hired because of his brother, Senator Howie Morales. I informed DA Estevez that he was qualified.”
After trying to cover in mud anybody who questioned her, Estevez had only Foy, her paid mouthpiece, to advance a conspiracy theory. Foy said the attorney general is prosecuting Estevez for political reasons. In the spirit of Estevez, Foy offered no evidence to support his claim. The attorney general, Hector Balderas, dropped the idea of running for governor long before he charged Estevez with crimes. Balderas has no political motive in his case against Estevez. It’s built on law and reason.
Estevez is not Foy’s only notable client. He also is representing Tiana Sanchez, a teacher at Silver High School, who was charged in April with having sex with a student. And Foy is defending Michael Aguirre, a former police officer, who was charged in May with 10 felonies, including aggravated battery against household members.
Those cases are being prosecuted by Estevez’s staff. Estevez is beholden to Foy, who’s running interference for her as well as defending her in court. Yet Estevez is supposed to represent the public interest in prosecuting defendants who also have hired Foy.
No matter what happens in her own case, Estevez has already revealed herself as a prosecutor who will say anything to hurt those on her enemies list. Estevez won’t resign, so it’s up to the state Democratic Party to move against her on ethical grounds. She is an embarrassment to the state. Her own party ought to finally have the courage to say so.