Magistrate charged with DWI
Police respond to single-vehicle crash, say they found Khalsa slurring words, smelling of alcohol
Police arrested Santa Fe County Magistrate Dev Atma Khalsa on charges of aggravated driving while intoxicated and driving with an expired license early Sunday morning.
According to a police report, Santa Fe police responded to a single-vehicle roll over crash on Interstate 25 northbound at the St. Francis Drive exit.
“Upon arrival, officers found Mr. Khalsa standing outside his vehicle,” Santa Fe Deputy Chief Matthew Champlin wrote in an email late Sunday.
The vehicle — described as a silver Toyota 4Runner — appeared to have left the roadway and come to rest on its driver’s side in a ditch.
“Officers initially spoke on scene with Mr. Khalsa before medical personnel transported him to the hospital for evaluation,” Champlin wrote. “The investigating officer reported Mr. Khalsa had an odor of an alcoholic beverage emitting from his breath and noticeably slurred speech. Mr. Khalsa was also found to have an expired driver’s license of Feb. 24, 2023. Once at the hospital, the same observations were made … with the addition of bloodshot watery eyes.”
Khalsa told an officer “I’ve had nothing to drink,” according to a criminal complaint. While at the hospital, Khalsa became uncooperative and refused to be medically assessed, the complaint says.
“Mr. Khalsa was read the New Mexico Implied Consent Act and was asked to submit to test of his blood; however he refused,” Champlin wrote. Under New Mexico state law, refusal to submit to a chemical test elevates the criminal charge to an “aggravated” charge.
Champlain said in a follow-up phone conversation the charge may be downgraded to a “simple DWI” because it’s unclear if the officer asked Khalsa for a breath sample before asking — at the hospital — for Khalsa’s blood to be drawn. Under state law, police can’t seek a search warrant for a suspect’s blood unless the arrest is related to “a fourth or subsequent” DWI charge, Champlain said.
Khalsa doesn’t appear to have any other DWI charges on his record, Champlin said, which would make Sunday’s charge his first.
Khalsa — who began his first term as a Santa Fe County Magistrate just a few months ago — was booked around 5:24 a.m. and released just after 3 p.m. Sunday, according to the Santa Fe County jail website.
It was unclear Sunday which judge authorized Khalsa’s release.
A jail booking photo shows Khalsa — a Sikh who often wears a turban — dressed in a khaki-colored jumpsuit without the headwear.
Khalsa did not respond to a voicemail message seeking comment for this story.
Champlin said he’s not sure if the department’s officers recognized Khalsa or knew he was a magistrate, but the supervising sergeant seemed unaware of Khalsa’s position when he was briefed by Champlin in response to The New Mexican’s inquiry.
Khalsa beat out three competitors to win the Democratic primary for his post in June and was unopposed in the November general election. Before becoming a magistrate, he worked as a prosecutor in the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
Khalsa told The New Mexican while campaigning he was born and raised in Virginia and can trace his roots “back to the second boat.” He described himself as an “angry young man” but said that changed when he got hit by a car in college and suffered a serious back injury, which led him to seek healing through Kundalini yoga.
Khalsa said he came to New Mexico in 2005 to pursue training at the Sikh community outside Española. This prompted him to make some life changes, and he returned to New Mexico to study at St. John’s College.
After graduating, he said, he spent time in various places across the United States and “intended to wander more” but kept returning to New Mexico and decided to attend law school here.
While campaigning, Khalsa confirmed he was charged with vandalism while an undergrad at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., in 1998.
He initially refused to disclose the act that led to the charge, saying it was “embarrassing and irrelevant” but later said he took the blame after he and others set a chair on fire as a prank.
His time in jail would temper any instinct to carelessly incarcerate someone, he said in the 2022 interview.