Beverly Singleman, a registered independent, attorney, and witness at the center of the bribery case against former Judge Mike Murphy, plans to enter the magistrate judge race in Doña Ana County that could be without any major party candidates.
At least one registered independent who is an attorney plans to enter the magistrate judge race in Doña Ana County that could be without any major party candidates.
Beverly Singleman, a former Democrat and former Court of Appeals judge, told NMPolitics.net she has applied for the vacancy created by last year’s resignation of Democrat Olivia Nevarez Garcia. Singleman said she also plans to run as an independent in the November election.
As NMPolitics.net reported last week, Doña Ana County Clerk Lynn Ellins has disqualified both Democrats who filed to run for the judgeship because neither is an attorney and, for the first time, the county’s population is over the 200,000 threshold that triggers a state law that requires magistrate judges to be attorneys.
At least one of those Democrats says he plans to challenge Ellins’ decision and the law. No Republicans filed to run for the seat.
Gov. Susana Martinez has yet to fill the vacancy on the court, which Singleman and others applied for months ago. Singleman said she was “pre-interviewed” by Martinez’s staff late last month.
Regardless of Martinez’s pending appointment, the seat will be up for election in November. Because the filing deadline to run in the Democratic and Republican primaries has passed, whoever Martinez appoints won’t be able to get on the ballot as a major party candidate unless he or she files as a write-in candidate in June.
Also in June, the judge Martinez appoints could file to run as a minor-party candidate or as an independent, as Singleman plans to do.
Singleman at center of case against Judge Murphy
Singleman is a witness at the center of the bribery case against former Third Judicial District Judge Mike Murphy, who resigned from the bench in February. Murphy’s bribery trial had been scheduled for early February, but a judge has put the case on hold while the Court of Appeals considers whether to reinstate a misdemeanor charge of violating the Governmental Conduct Act.
Murphy currently faces felony charges stemming from two cases. His May indictment on four felony charges is based on allegations that he solicited a bribe from Singleman, who was considering applying for an open judgeship; that he told Judge Lisa Schultz to tell Singleman she needed to pay the bribe; and that he threatened to destroy Singleman’s reputation for telling others that he solicited a bribe from her.
Separate from that indictment, Murphy faces another felony charge for allegedly offering “several promises” to Schultz in December 2010 if she would agree to be the tie-breaking vote to make Douglas R. Driggers the chief district judge in Las Cruces.
Murphy has pleaded not guilty to all charges. You can read more about the allegations against Murphy that involve Singleman here.