AG’s Office bumps judge off state senator’s DWI case
The aggravated DWI case against New Mexico state Sen. Richard Martinez has found a new landing spot.
District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer is now handling the case, after Attorney General Hector Balderas’ office exercised its authority to have the previously assigned judge — Jason Lidyard — removed.
Under law, each side in a criminal case can excuse a judge without cause. An AG’s Office spokesman said the agency elected to do so in the Martinez case but did not provide further explanation.
Martinez, a Democrat who has served in the Legislature since 2001, has pleaded not
guilty to charges of aggravated DWI and reckless driving. The senator was arrested June 28 after the SUV he was driving rear-ended another vehicle that was stopped at a red light in Española.
Martinez, a retired magistrate judge who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, refused to take a breath test to determine his blood alcohol content after the crash and appeared to struggle on sobriety tests, as shown on police lapel-cam video.
Since the arrest, he has not shown up for several legislative interim meetings for committees that he serves on and has not responded to requests for comments.
The next court hearing in the case is set for Sept. 26. Former Gov. Susana Martinez has been appointed to a national group of ex-governors who provide guidance to selected elected officials on education issues.
Martinez, who served two terms before stepping down at the end of last year, will be one of 18 former governors — Democrats and Republicans — on an advisory board for a Hunt Institute fellowship program.
In the board position for the North Carolina-based group, Martinez could cross paths with New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, a Democrat who is one of 20 fellows in this year’s program.
Since leaving office, Martinez has been named to several national boards, including the advisory board of a national nonprofit group that’s planning to build a national war memorial in Washington, D.C., honoring Americans who took part in military operations in response to the 2001 terrorist attacks.
Many of Martinez’s education initiatives, including a new teacher evaluation system, were challenged by unions and have been overhauled by current Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s administration.