The New Mexico Supreme Court has suspended Doña Ana County Magistrate Judge Carlos Garza, with pay, for 90 days.
The petition from the Judicial Standards Commission seeking his immediate, temporary suspension has been sealed by the court, so the allegations against Garza aren’t known.
Reached by cell phone shortly after the court issued its order today, Garza said he was at work and had not yet heard that he had been suspended.
Garza returned to work today after taking about a week off from work. He was suffering health problems related to the stress of the current uncertainty over his job situation.
The court’s suspension of Garza lasts through Nov. 3, according to a clerk in the Supreme Court clerk’s office. His response to the commission’s petition is due Aug. 21.
Garza is running unopposed for re-election this year. He’s already on judicial probation stemming from an admission in May to improperly involving himself in a drunken driving case against a woman with whom he had a personal relationship.
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.”