The New Mexico Supreme Court has been asked to immediately suspend Doña Ana County Magistrate Judge Carlos Garza without pay.
The reason for the request from the Judicial Standards Commission isn’t known because the high court has sealed the file. The request was made by the commission on Friday, according to a clerk in the Supreme Court clerk’s office.
Commission Director Jim Noel said he could not comment because the petition has been sealed.
This is the second petition for discipline of Garza in recent months. He admitted in May to improperly involving himself in a drunken driving case against a woman with whom he had a personal relationship. He admitted to contacting two other magistrate judges assigned to the case at different times to discuss it with them and, in at least one instance, asked one to set a low bond or no bond.
Garza’s punishment from the high court in that case included a $600 fine, a formal reprimand, six months of supervised probation and mentorship. He failed to pay the fine by the June 22 deadline the court set, but paid it a week later, after the commission filed a motion seeking an order requiring Garza to explain why he should not be held in contempt.
Though Garza admitted to the charges in that case, he seemed to back off days later in an interview with the Las Cruces Sun-News, saying ““I know the difference between wrong and right in my job and I had to admit something for economic reasons.”
He also said the discipline was light because “the facts were very convoluted,” and was critical of the commission.
Garza, who makes an annual salary of $65,158, is unopposed in his re-election bid this year.