Judge: No need for AG to testify in Griego case
Corruption trial scheduled to begin Oct. 31
ALBUQUERQUE — A state district judge ruled Friday that Attorney General Hector Balderas will not have to testify in the corruption trial of former state Sen. Phil Griego.
Griego’s lawyer, Tom Clark, had put Balderas — whose office is prosecuting Griego — on his witness list. Griego in 2014 made a $1,500 campaign donation to Balderas, then the state auditor and a candidate for attorney general.
Judge Brett Loveless said that for a prosecutor to be compelled to testify, the defendant would have to show that vital evidence couldn’t be obtained anywhere else. This is not the case with Balderas, Loveless said.
Griego, a Democrat from San Jose, is charged with nine criminal counts, including bribery, fraud, perjury and tampering with public records. He collected a commission of about $50,000 from the owners of the Inn of the Five Graces on De Vargas Street for brokering the sale of a state-owned building that had been put on the market by a vote of the Legislature.
Clark said that when Balderas accepted the campaign check in Griego’s state Capitol office in June 2014, the two talked about the building sale that later would lead to the criminal charges against Griego. Balderas, Clark said, assured Griego he had nothing to worry about.
Clark said the fact that Griego was openly discussing the land sale with Balderas showed he wasn’t trying to conceal his role in the transaction.
But in an affidavit filed Friday by prosecutors, Balderas denied he ever discussed the building sale with Griego. Instead, Balderas described their conversation as “casual small talk” that lasted only about five minutes, Balderas said.
Balderas said the building transaction did not come up. He said Griego “did not seek and I did not offer any opinions, legal or otherwise. Nor, as state auditor, was I in a position to do so.”
The first news accounts of the land deal were not published until about a month after that meeting.
Loveless delayed a decision on other motions in Griego’s criminal case. These included a defense motion to drop the fraud counts against Griego because prosecutors hadn’t shown any “official act” on Griego’s part, as is necessary in public corruption prosecutions, according to one U.S. Supreme Court decision.
Loveless did agree not to combine the building sale with another case in which Griego is charged with 22 criminal counts claiming he falsified his campaign finance reports.
Griego’s trial involving the property sale is scheduled to begin Oct. 31.