Former judge arrested for failing to appear in court

Former Doña Ana County Magistrate Judge Carlos Garza was arrested on Wednesday for failing to appear in the court in which he once served.

He was scheduled to appear in Magistrate Court for a non-jury trial on March 24 after being cited during a Dec. 13 traffic stop in Doña Ana County for driving with a suspended or revoked license, failing to display registered plates and driving 11 to 15 miles per hour over the posted speed limit.

Garza didn’t show for the March court date, and a bench warrant was issued. He was arrested on Wednesday, according to online court records.

The arrest was first reported on by the Las Cruces Sun-News, which said Garza bonded out the same day he was arrested.

The arrest is the latest in a string of troubles that ended the former judge’s career and have kept him in the news since. The Supreme Court removed Garza from the bench in November 2006 after the Judicial Standards Commission found that he had used cocaine and abused his position to benefit a woman with whom he had a personal relationship. He was ordered to pay $16,760 to the commission for reimbursement of the cost of its investigation and barred from ever again seeking or holding judicial office in New Mexico.

After he was removed from the bench, Garza applied for and was granted unemployment compensation, but the decision to give him the aid was later reversed.