Rebecca Vigil-Giron
Because of pending motions, the resignation of one judge, and the expected recusal of another, there’s “no trial date in sight” for former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron and other defendants accused of bilking taxpayers out of millions of dollars.
That’s according to the Albuquerque Journal, which reports today that Vigil-Giron has once again filed a motion seeking the dismissal of the case. From the Journal:
“Former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron has asked for a third time to have her 2009 criminal case dismissed with prejudice because of the length of the delay thus far and the likelihood of more to come.
“‘In an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ legal enigma, the more Ms. Vigil-Giron requests her day in court so that she can clear her name, the more distant the prospect of trial actually becomes,’ her attorney, Robert Gorence, said in a motion filed last Thursday.
“A dismissal with prejudice means it could not be refiled.”
Vigil-Giron, lobbyists Joseph Kupfer and Elizabeth Kupfer, and media consultant Armando Gutierrez, who headed the company Vigil-Giron hired to help the state implement a federal voter education program, each face 50 counts including money laundering, fraud, soliciting or receiving kickbacks and tax evasion. They allegedly took the money between 2004 and 2006 using the secretary of state’s contract with Gutierrez by falsifying invoices.
The charges were first filed in 2009, but a dispute about whether Attorney General Gary King’s office had a conflict led to delays. Earlier this year, a judge ruled the AG couldn’t prosecute the case, so King appointed a special prosecutor.
The resignation of then-Disrict Judge Albert S. “Pat” Murdoch after he was charged with raping a prostitute further delayed the case (the charges against Murdoch were later dropped but may be refilled). The Journal reported that the new judge assigned to the case, Sam Winder, “is expected to recuse himself because Elizabeth Kupfer’s attorney is a campaign consultant for Winder.”
So the case apparently hasn’t yet been assigned to a judge who’s going to sort through everything. And there are dozens of pending motions in the case, the Journal reported.
By the way, the Kupfers also face federal tax evasion charges related to the allegations in the state case.