{"id":400,"date":"2006-07-24T16:29:00","date_gmt":"2006-07-24T22:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/07\/galvan-though-barred-from-office-not-found-by-high-court-to-have-violated-judicial-ethics\/"},"modified":"2006-07-24T16:29:00","modified_gmt":"2006-07-24T22:29:00","slug":"galvan-though-barred-from-office-not-found-by-high-court-to-have-violated-judicial-ethics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/07\/galvan-though-barred-from-office-not-found-by-high-court-to-have-violated-judicial-ethics\/","title":{"rendered":"Galvan, though barred from office, not found by high court to have violated judicial ethics"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>When the New Mexico Supreme Court issued an order Thursday barring former Do\u00f1a Ana County Magistrate Judge Reuben Galvan from ever again holding judicial office, it also denied the Judicial Standards Commission\u2019s request for financial reimbursement from Galvan. <\/p>\n

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

That\u2019s because, the high court wrote in its order, Galvan \u201chad already resigned from office when the commission conducted its hearing and \u2026 the commission failed to prove its case by clear and convincing evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Essentially, the justices were making clear that they were not finding Galvan guilty of the judicial misconduct of which he was accused. It\u2019s interesting that, at the end of the Galvan saga, he\u2019s been twice acquitted of criminal charges and also not found to have violated the judicial code of conduct.<\/p>\n

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

Then why order him permanently barred from holding judicial office in New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>? The court\u2019s order doesn\u2019t answer that question.<\/p>\n

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

But Celina Jones, assistant to Chief Justice Richard Bosson, said an \u201cadditional element\u201d was the fact that the commission and high court sought a response from Galvan to the commission\u2019s request that he be barred from office.<\/p>\n

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

Galvan did not respond.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThat alone doesn\u2019t comport with appropriate standards of judicial conduct,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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

Galvan resigned last year amid allegations that he raped and solicited a bribe from a Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> woman in August 2004. After two hung juries, prosecutors dropped the criminal charges.<\/p>\n

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

Galvan admitted in a statement to police to actions that may violate the judicial code of conduct. While drinking and flirting in a bar, he discussed with the woman a pending battery case against her husband, though she was the alleged victim in that case. He had sex with the woman, though she and her husband had been married two months earlier by Galvan.<\/p>\n

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

He also took the woman for a ride in his Porsche, though he told police he had too much to drink before driving.<\/p>\n

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

It was allegations related to those incidents that led to the petition for discipline of Galvan.<\/p>\n

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

The judicial disciplinary process was initially put on hold pending the outcome of the criminal matter. After Galvan resigned last summer, the commission requested that the high court permanently bar Galvan from the judiciary.<\/p>\n

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

Galvan had a chance to defend himself, but let pass a June 16 deadline to respond to the commission\u2019s petition seeking a permanent ban from office. The commission then filed a strongly worded request to the high court to act.<\/p>\n

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

It did.<\/p>\n

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

The order by the court might have implications for other matters, but it is not a legal opinion, so it\u2019s not clear whether the justices will apply the same standards in other matters.<\/p>\n

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

Former District Judge Larry Ramirez of Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> might find himself in a situation similar to that of Galvan. He resigned recently, just as judicial proceedings against him began. He was accused of sexual harassment and making inappropriate comments in court.<\/p>\n

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

He said he resigned in part because the financial burden of defending himself would have been too great.<\/p>\n

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

Records in the Ramirez case are sealed, but the commission might have already requested that he be permanently barred from the judiciary. If Ramirez doesn\u2019t want that to happen, he might have to spend his own money to fight the commission anyway, if the court applies the same standard it did in the Galvan matter.<\/p>\n

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

According to the public docket, the high court ordered Ramirez last week to respond to a sealed petition from the commission.<\/p>\n

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

The court\u2019s ruling might also indicate that it\u2019s not likely to order former judges to reimburse the commission for investigative costs when they resign before hearings are conducted.<\/p>\n

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

Commission director Jim Noel said until the court issues a formal opinion that indicates otherwise, current duties of the commission include proceeding with petitions for discipline even if judges resign or retire before the process is complete.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI think accountability is an important part of the process,\u201d he said. \u201cIf a judge can avoid accountability by resigning or retiring, we\u2019re undermining the constitutional duties of the commission.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the New Mexico Supreme Court issued an order Thursday barring former Do\u00f1a Ana County Magistrate Judge Reuben Galvan from ever again holding judicial office, it also denied the Judicial Standards Commission\u2019s request for financial reimbursement from Galvan. That\u2019s because, the high court wrote in its order, Galvan \u201chad already resigned from office when 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-400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400","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=400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}