{"id":3028,"date":"2008-03-26T16:56:00","date_gmt":"2008-03-26T22:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/03\/high-court-suspends-embattled-sunland-park-judge\/"},"modified":"2008-03-26T16:56:00","modified_gmt":"2008-03-26T22:56:00","slug":"high-court-suspends-embattled-sunland-park-judge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/03\/high-court-suspends-embattled-sunland-park-judge\/","title":{"rendered":"High court suspends embattled Sunland Park judge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a onblur=\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_IabUCQmoheQ\/R-rUvoV6L-I\/AAAAAAAAFU4\/jRV8kqbfZmE\/s1600-h\/Favela,+Horacio.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;\" src=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_IabUCQmoheQ\/R-rUvoV6L-I\/AAAAAAAAFU4\/jRV8kqbfZmE\/s200\/Favela,+Horacio.jpg\" alt=\"\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5182188235991429090\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a>The <a href=\"http:\/\/nmsupremecourt.nmcourts.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\">New Mexico Supreme Court<\/a> finally acted today in the case of newly elected Sunland Park Municipal Judge Horacio Favela by suspending him without pay pending the outcome of his voter-fraud case.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">The action wasn\u2019t designed to be punitive. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fscll.org\/JSC\/Main.htm\" target=\"_blank\">Judicial Standards Commission<\/a> Director Jim Noel told the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lcsun-news.com\/news\/ci_8704413\" target=\"_blank\">Las Cruces Sun-News<\/a> that the action is simply designed to protect the integrity of the judiciary.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">After all, can you imagine this judge actually ruling in cases while he\u2019s facing a charge of voter fraud? The <st1:place st=\"on\"><st1:placename st=\"on\">Sunland<\/st1:placename> <st1:placetype st=\"on\">Park<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place> judge hears some 3,000 cases per year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Favela was charged on Feb. 29 with voter fraud, a fourth-degree felony that could land him in prison for 18 months if he\u2019s convicted. He allegedly used a residential address in <st1:placename st=\"on\">El  Paso<\/st1:placename> <st1:placetype st=\"on\">County<\/st1:placetype> and a business address in <st1:place st=\"on\"><st1:placename st=\"on\">Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename>  <st1:placename st=\"on\">Ana<\/st1:placename> <st1:placename st=\"on\">County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> to vote by absentee ballot in both counties in 2004.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">There are also questions about whether he was eligible to run for office in <st1:place st=\"on\"><st1:placename st=\"on\">Sunland<\/st1:placename>  <st1:placetype st=\"on\">Park<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place>. His driver\u2019s license is from <st1:place st=\"on\"><st1:state st=\"on\">Texas<\/st1:state><\/st1:place> and lists his residence as being there. His most recent voter registration is also from <st1:city st=\"on\"><st1:place st=\"on\">El Paso<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>. Despite those concerns, a second commission request to invalidate Favela\u2019s election was denied by the high court today.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Favela was elected by <st1:place st=\"on\"><st1:placename st=\"on\">Sunland<\/st1:placename> <st1:placetype st=\"on\">Park<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place> voters and sworn in shortly after he was charged. But he hasn\u2019t been hearing cases. The Associated Press quoted his attorney as saying Favela had \u201ctaken it upon himself to do the right thing\u201d by not hearing cases while this mess is pending.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">There\u2019s a pro tem judge hearing cases in his absence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">OK. The integrity of the judiciary is intact, at least in this instance. On to Favela\u2019s criminal case. The high court won\u2019t decide whether to reinstate him until after that is resolved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The New Mexico Supreme Court finally acted today in the case of newly elected Sunland Park Municipal Judge Horacio Favela by suspending him without pay pending the outcome of his voter-fraud case. The action wasn\u2019t designed to be punitive. Judicial Standards Commission Director Jim Noel told the Las Cruces Sun-News that the action is simply [&hellip;]<\/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-3028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3028","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=3028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3028\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}