Dennis W. Montoya
Because of new complaints of alleged misconduct, the state Supreme Court’s disciplinary board has asked the high court to immediately suspend appeals judge candidate Dennis W. Montoya from practicing law, the Albuquerque Journal is reporting.
The board has already accused Montoya of misconduct including fraud, deceit, lying to the court, having a conflict of interest, failing to adequately represent a client and failing to adequately account for and distinguish client funds from his own – allegations that stem from a 2008 complaint filed by the Appeals Court judge he’s now trying to unseat in the Democratic primary, Linda Vanzi.
There are now nine other complaints against Montoya, according to the petition for suspension filed Friday. You can read the petition here. Get more details on the new complaints from the Journal by clicking here.
The Supreme Court hasn’t yet acted on the petition, but the charges against Montoya are serious. If he loses his ability to practice law, he’s also not eligible to be a judge.
Montoya’s campaign manager called the new complaints “extraordinary measures” to harm Montoya, the Journal reported.
Vanzi has used Montoya’s professional troubles against him in the campaign, first with a mailer that went out a week ago and now with a second mailer that you can view here.