{"id":2426,"date":"2007-10-25T06:11:00","date_gmt":"2007-10-25T12:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/10\/longstanding-dispute-colors-municipal-judge-race\/"},"modified":"2007-10-25T06:11:00","modified_gmt":"2007-10-25T12:11:00","slug":"longstanding-dispute-colors-municipal-judge-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/10\/longstanding-dispute-colors-municipal-judge-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Longstanding dispute colors municipal judge race"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The race for Las Cruces Municipal Court<\/a> presiding judge in some ways comes down to a longstanding fight between the current judges and the city\u2019s police and prosecutors. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The incumbent, Melissa Miller-Byrnes<\/a>, is being challenged by Conrad F. Perea<\/a>, a private-practice attorney who was a police officer in Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> for 20 years. With the exception of the District 4 city council contest, which has no incumbent, this is the only race in the Nov. 6 election where the city\u2019s unions \u2013 including police and firefighter groups \u2013 didn\u2019t endorse the incumbent, opting instead to put their weight behind Perea\u2019s candidacy.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The dispute exploded in 2004 when the court\u2019s other judge, James T. Locatelli, wrote a letter to the Las Cruces Sun-News alleging incompetence by police and prosecutors. After the newspaper published the letter and a separate comment from Miller-Byrnes labeling a city prosecutor a \u201csmart ass,\u201d the city attorney\u2019s office filed a complaint with the state\u2019s Judicial Standards Commission, which asked the Supreme Court to discipline the judges. The court dismissed the complaint related to the letter, but chastised Miller-Byrnes for the \u201csmart ass\u201d comment.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The judges sued \u2013 unsuccessfully \u2013 to try to get the city to pay the cost of their defense against the ethics complaint. The city attorney\u2019s office tried \u2013 also unsuccessfully \u2013 to force the judges off cases they were prosecuting because of the lawsuit. The city attorney\u2019s office recently began taking most drunken-driving and domestic-violence cases to District Court, in part to bypass the city\u2019s two municipal judges. That leaves the municipal judges hearing primarily petty misdemeanor, codes and traffic cases.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Perea, 48, said the turmoil \u201cgoes back to some personality clashes that occurred years back, and these personality disputes have grown and grown. \u2026 Now it has grown to a proportion that it cannot be fixed. There is no communication.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I know I can bring is the ability to bring everyone together, create a respectful court as a judge that can hear all sides, hear from everyone and give everyone the respect that they are due,\u201d Perea said. \u201cI don\u2019t bring any baggage with me, no distaste for anyone or any party.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The 45-year-old Miller-Byrnes, who would only respond in writing to previously submitted questions, said the situation isn\u2019t as bad as Perea claims.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI believe the court is successful in fulfilling its role to assist the city in exercising maximum, local self-government as prescribed by the charter,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Miller-Byrnes, in turn, tried to put Perea on the defensive at a candidate forum earlier this month, questioning whether he could be impartial because he is a former police officer. She also pointed out that he has been an attorney for only two years.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cWill he be fair? Will you have meaningful participation?\u201d Miller Byrnes asked. \u201c\u2026 My challenger lacks administrative experience. What barrier will that create to your access to justice?\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Perea said his law enforcement background, and the fact that he\u2019s a former magistrate judge, will help him be a good city judge. He said he is trained to think on his feet and treat people with respect. In addition, he said defendants and defense attorneys, like police and prosecutors, \u201cnotice the turmoil\u201d in the court.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThey notice that there is some sort of problem in the way that they are treated in that court,\u201d he said. \u201cI think that they are treated with disrespect and they want some changes.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Miller-Byrnes said that\u2019s not the case.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThe court is fair as well as efficient,\u201d she said, \u201cand I invite everyone to attend court so they can draw their own conclusions.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

More on Miller-Byrnes<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Miller-Byrnes, who has been the court\u2019s presiding judge since 1999, said her accomplishments to date include helping the court evolve \u201cfrom a traffic court immersed with the executive branch to an independent agency that functions as the third branch of city government. I have maintained the institutional boundaries so that the court can provide the necessary check and balance on the other two branches of government.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

She also said she has developed procedures that help the court remain fair and efficient, and has worked to improve the court\u2019s computer systems.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

With another term, Miller-Byrnes said she would continue to implement performance measures that would aid in administration and identify areas that need improvement. She said she would also \u201cfocus on increasing court community awareness and inter-branch communications by enlightening the public as well as the city council of the court\u2019s role in city government and its services to our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Miller-Byrnes earned her law degree in 1987 from William Mitchell College of Law in Minnesota<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>. She has a bachelor\u2019s degree in government with a minor in Spanish from New Mexico<\/st1:placename> State<\/st1:placetype> University<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place>. She was selected to be a 2006 fellow of the Institute for Court Management by the National Center of State Courts.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Miller-Byrnes has been formally reprimanded once by the state\u2019s high court for falsely stating during a radio interview in 2004 that no complaints had been filed against her with the commission. Before becoming a judge, she was a city prosecutor for 10 years.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The judge is married to Bart Byrnes, and they have two children, Robyn and Megan.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

More on Perea<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Perea said he retired from the Las Cruces Police Department before the turmoil between the judges and city police and prosecutors started. After leaving LCPD, he was appointed Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> magistrate judge and served from 1999-2000. During that time, he also completed his bachelor\u2019s degree in government at NMSU.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In 2002, Perea left Las Cruces<\/st1:city> to attend the University<\/st1:placetype> of Denver<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place>\u2019s Sturm College of Law, and he earned his law degree in 2004. He served as a statewide magistrate judge pro tem until earlier this year, when he moved back to Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> and took a job with the local district attorney\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

That, Perea said, was when he started hearing complaints about the municipal judges.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

He said he\u2019s concerned that, with drunken-driving and domestic-violence cases going to district court, the municipal court\u2019s caseload will drop and the city will have to cut jobs. His primary goal is to reestablish relationships so city prosecutors and police will bring those cases back to the court.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI know I can bring respect back to that court,\u201d Perea said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

He also wants to collect unpaid parking fines, if necessary with the help of an outside agency that would be paid a nominal fee. And he said he would seek the executive branch\u2019s help with human resources and pay issues so he could focus more of his time on \u201crunning the court itself.\u201d Perea said he worked with Locatelli when he was a police officer and Locatelli was a prosecutor, and called the judge \u201ca fair man\u201d with whom he could work as a colleague.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Perea is married to Viola Perea, and they have one daughter, Erika.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Nov. 6. Early and absentee voting are underway at the city clerk\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

\n

A prior version of this article incorrectly stated that Miller-Byrnes also authored the letter to the Sun-News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The race for Las Cruces Municipal Court presiding judge in some ways comes down to a longstanding fight between the current judges and the city\u2019s police and prosecutors. The incumbent, Melissa Miller-Byrnes, is being challenged by Conrad F. Perea, a private-practice attorney who was a police officer in Las Cruces for 20 years. With the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2426\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}