Governor calls on state Sen. Richard Martinez to consider ‘message’ of his DWI arrest.
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New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Tuesday called on state Sen. Richard Martinez to think about the “message” his recent arrest on aggravated DWI and reckless driving charges sends to the community.
“This is a really good opportunity for someone in his position to think about his position,” Lujan Grisham said at a news conference in Santa Fe. “What are his conflicts if he’s the chair of the judiciary committee? What message does this send to our community that is besieged by crime related to alcohol and drugs?”
The governor added that as an elected official, the Democratic senator from Española should be “held to the highest possible standard.
“This is an opportunity for this community and this senator to be clear about what their responsibility is,” Lujan Grisham said. “I would like to see that occur.”
The longtime state senator and former Rio Arriba County magistrate judge pleaded not guilty last week to the misdemeanor charges. Martinez did not appear at his arraignment, nor did he appear Monday at a meeting of the Legislative Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee, which he co-chairs.
Martinez is accused of driving his 2010 Mercedes SUV while intoxicated and rear-ending a Jeep that was stopped at a red light on the north side of Española on the night of June 28.
The senator refused a Breathalyzer test and pleaded with officers not to arrest him, according to a police report. Officers arrested him at Presbyterian Española Hospital, where medical staff had treated him.
Lujan Grisham also said she was “disappointed” about reports that a New Mexico State Police officer may have attempted a literal cover-up of Martinez’s license plate at the scene of the crash. Video of the crash scene recorded by an Española police officer’s body camera shows state police Officer Lance Pepper, who assisted in the investigation, asking another Española officer, “Do you guys have something you could cover that plate up with?”
“I don’t care who you stop, or potentially have to arrest, their title or elected position is not a question,” Lujan Grisham said Tuesday. “It’s whether they broke the law that’s a question.”
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said that as an elected official, the Democratic senator from Española should be “held to the highest possible standard.”