{"id":27412,"date":"2011-03-18T09:24:44","date_gmt":"2011-03-18T15:24:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=27412"},"modified":"2011-03-18T09:24:48","modified_gmt":"2011-03-18T15:24:48","slug":"judge-says-ag-can%e2%80%99t-prosecute-vigil-giron-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/03\/judge-says-ag-can%e2%80%99t-prosecute-vigil-giron-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge says AG can\u2019t prosecute Vigil-Giron case"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_9691\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignright\" style=\"max-width: 270px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-9691 \" title=\"King-Gary\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/King-Gary2-300x243.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"270\" height=\"219\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/King-Gary2-300x243.jpg 300w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/King-Gary2.jpg 325w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 270px) 100vw, 270px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Attorney General Gary King (Photo by Heath Haussamen)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>A district judge ruled Wednesday that Attorney General <a href=\"http:\/\/nmag.gov\/office\/Divisions\/EO\/kingbio.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">Gary King\u2019s<\/a> office can\u2019t prosecute a corruption case against former Secretary of State <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Rebecca_Vigil-Giron\" target=\"_blank\">Rebecca Vigil-Giron<\/a> and others because of perceptions of a conflict.<\/p>\n<p>King\u2019s options now are to appeal the ruling or hand the case over to a special prosecutor \u2013 perhaps one of the state\u2019s district attorneys.<\/p>\n<p>Lawyers for the defendants had alleged a conflict because the AG\u2019s office provided counsel to the secretary of state on contracts related to the indictment, and also because of potential personal conflicts between one of the defendants and King, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.abqjournal.com\/news\/state\/182332396318newsstate03-18-11.htm\" target=\"_blank\">Albuquerque Journal<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n<p>While Judge Pat Murdoch said he found no wrongdoing by King and King\u2019s office, his ruling aimed to protect the process by avoiding negative appearances.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe issues we\u2019ve just discussed cast shadows,\u201d the Journal quoted him as saying, \u201cand when that happens, the shadows have to be removed.\u201d<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Vigil-Giron, lobbyists\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sos.state.nm.us\/Lobby\/940531.HTM\" target=\"_blank\">Joseph Kupfer<\/a> and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sos.state.nm.us\/Lobby\/070154.HTM\" target=\"_blank\">Elizabeth Kupfer<\/a>,\u00a0and 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\u2019s contract with Gutierrez by falsifying invoices.<\/p>\n<p>The case is one of two brought by King where defendants have challenged his office\u2019s ability to prosecute because the AG also provides civil legal advice to state agencies. In the other case, against four defendants involved in the housing authority scandal, the appeals court ruled King\u2019s office <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/02\/appeals-court-ag-can-prosecute-housing-authority-case\/\" target=\"_blank\">can prosecute<\/a> the case.<\/p>\n<p>The defendants have <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/02\/housing-authority-defendants-ask-high-court-to-remove-ag\/\" target=\"_blank\">appealed that ruling<\/a> to the state Supreme Court.<\/p>\n<p>The challenges to King\u2019s authority to prosecute have delayed trial in both cases.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A district judge ruled Wednesday that Attorney General Gary King\u2019s office can\u2019t prosecute a corruption case against former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron and others because of perceptions of a conflict.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[142,107,155],"class_list":["post-27412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-crime","tag-roundhouse","tag-secretary-of-state-scandal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27412","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=27412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27412\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}