{"id":33398,"date":"2011-10-28T10:09:28","date_gmt":"2011-10-28T16:09:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=33398"},"modified":"2011-10-28T11:12:30","modified_gmt":"2011-10-28T17:12:30","slug":"attorney-says-chandler-accuser-called-da-%e2%80%98honest-and-ethical%e2%80%99","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/10\/attorney-says-chandler-accuser-called-da-%e2%80%98honest-and-ethical%e2%80%99\/","title":{"rendered":"Attorney says Chandler accuser called DA \u2018honest and ethical\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Ninth Judicial District Attorney Matt Chandler<\/p><\/div>\n

A private defense attorney says a former employee of District Attorney Matt Chandler<\/a> who has accused the DA of playing politics in the case against a Las Cruces judge called Chandler \u201chonest and ethical\u201d in a conversation earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Chandler provided NMPolitics.net with a letter from Clovis attorney Fred Van Soelen that describes an affidavit from Soelen about his encounter with Kirk Chavez.<\/p>\n

Soelen didn\u2019t provide the full affidavit, saying it names other people \u201cnot involved in this matter,\u201d but provided an excerpt in the signed letter to NMPolitics.net.<\/p>\n

The encounter detailed in the affidavit came after Chavez appeared on behalf of Chandler at a hearing in the bribery case against District Judge Mike Murphy in Las Cruces. Soelen lives across the street from Chavez in Clovis, and wrote that he saw Chavez arrive home and approached him to ask how the hearing went.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think yesterday was my last day at the district attorney\u2019s office,\u201d Soelen says Chavez told him.<\/p>\n

From the affidavit excerpt:<\/p>\n

\u201cHe then said Matt Chandler was the best attorney he knew, honest and ethical, but that he had a problem with the investigators that worked for Matt.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Soelen says that conversation should shed light on an affidavit Chavez, who is no longer employed in Chandler\u2019s office, provided to Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles W. Daniels last week. As NMPolitics.net reported Thursday<\/a>, Chavez is accusing Chandler of playing politics in an attempt to gain an advantage in the Murphy case by \u201cjudge shopping.\u201d He accuses Chandler of seeking to have an earlier judge who Daniels assigned to the case disqualified by releasing a public statement that would imply collusion between Daniels and Murphy\u2019s attorney, Michael Stout.<\/p>\n

The intent, Chavez wrote in his affidavit, was to pressure Daniels into appointing \u201ca more conservative, and hopefully Republican judge\u201d to the case against Murphy, who is a Democrat.<\/p>\n

Chandler, a Republican, says the allegation is false. Soelen wrote this in his letter to NMPolitics.net:<\/p>\n

\u201cI sincerely question how Mr. Chavez could later make a claim of misconduct after telling me and numerous other people that Matt Chandler is the most honest and ethical attorney and prosecutor he has ever known.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the full letter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Update, 11:10 a.m.<\/h3>\n

Chavez sent NMPolitics.net this statement:<\/p>\n

\u201cHeath, as you know, I have refused to comment on this case, and I will continue to do so.\u00a0But, after reading Mr. Van Soelen\u2019s comments, I must make the following statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cMatthew Chandler is one of the finest people I know.\u00a0He is value-oriented and the best prosecutor in New Mexico. I will always have the deepest respect for Mr. Chandler, and he knows he will always have my support in future endeavors.\u00a0I learned more in my three years working for Mr. Chandler than anybody else in my life other than my father.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith that said, even the best of attorneys and people make mistakes.\u00a0My profession teaches me that I must be truthful even when the truth hurts myself or others around me, no matter how much I believe in them as people.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, Mr. Van Soelen is correct, and to this day I believe the words I told Mr. Van Soelen on the day after the hearing in Las Cruces.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough I believe some ethical missteps were taken in this case, Mr. Chandler is still the most ethical and honest man, as well as an attorney, that I have ever known.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UPDATED: A private defense attorney says a former employee of District Attorney Matt Chandler who has accused the DA of playing politics in the case against a Las Cruces judge called Chandler \u201chonest and ethical\u201d in a conversation earlier this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[142,216,161,114],"class_list":["post-33398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-crime","tag-judge-murphy","tag-judiciary","tag-public-corruption"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33398","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=33398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33398\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}