Public defender hires man convicted in courthouse scam

ALBUQUERQUE — A former courthouse administrator who was sent to federal prison and ordered to pay millions of dollars in restitution in a courthouse corruption scandal that rocked New Mexico politics has been hired by the state Law Offices of the Public Defender.

Toby Martinez, former administrator of the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Courthouse, was accused more than a decade ago of bilking the state out of $4.2 million in the construction of an $83 million courthouse.

Former state Senate President Pro Tem Manny Aragon was among the other defendants.

Martinez cooperated with authorities and pleaded guilty to taking more than $2 million. He spent more than five years in prison and was released from prison in 2013.

“There was no one better-positioned than Mr. Martinez to engineer the scheme to defraud the taxpayers,” U.S. Attorney Greg Fouratt said when Martinez was sentenced. “Indeed, without him, there would have been no theft at all.”

Chief Public Defender Bennett Baur said Martinez was the most qualified applicant for the paralegal position after working for the office since November.

“I would be skeptical too, and we are monitoring him to make sure he’s doing the work and that he does not violate the public trust,” Bauer said. “In the end, this is a way for him to prove to society that he deserves, that he’s been rehabilitated, and he deserves another chance.”

Martinez began cooperating with federal investigators in late 2005, and they credited him with providing information that ultimately led to a guilty plea by Aragon, once one of the most powerful politicians in the state.

Prosecutors had asked for leniency given Martinez’s cooperation.

Ken Stalter, general counsel for the Office of the Attorney General, said hiring a person convicted of a crime of dishonesty could lead to litigation and conflict.

He said it raises the question of why a felon convicted of a crime of dishonesty would be given such access and legal responsibility.

Brian Pori, a federal defender for Martinez, said his client has served his time and completed his probation. Pori said Martinez is rehabilitated and can serve as a model for those he contacts as part of his paralegal duties.

“The idea that you violated the law [and] that you just don’t get to have any decent job again, that’s absurd,” Pori said.

Martinez worked at a warehouse before taking the $41,000-a-year job at the Public Defender’s Office.

Pori said Martinez pays a quarter of his net earnings to restitution owed as a result of the courthouse scheme.