{"id":591488,"date":"2018-06-13T07:00:11","date_gmt":"2018-06-13T13:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=591488"},"modified":"2018-06-13T08:15:09","modified_gmt":"2018-06-13T14:15:09","slug":"high-profile-dwi-cases-spotlight-complicated-world-of-legal-conflicts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/06\/high-profile-dwi-cases-spotlight-complicated-world-of-legal-conflicts\/","title":{"rendered":"High-profile DWI cases spotlight complicated world of legal conflicts"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_591497\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-591497\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Youngblood-and-Flynn-photo-771x433.jpg\" alt=\"Youngblood and Flynn\" width=\"771\" height=\"433\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Youngblood-and-Flynn-photo-771x433.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Youngblood-and-Flynn-photo-336x189.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Youngblood-and-Flynn-photo-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Youngblood-and-Flynn-photo.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Anson Stevens-Bollen<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">State Rep. Monica Youngblood, left, and Ryan Flynn, right<\/p><\/div>\n<p>For the second time in a year, last month Albuquerque Police Officer Joshua Monta\u00f1o found himself handcuffing a high-profile politico with ties to Gov. Susana Martinez.<\/p>\n<p>Monta\u00f1o arrested state Rep. Monica Youngblood on May 20 on suspicion of aggravated drunken driving, first offense, after he believed she performed poorly on field sobriety tests at a DWI checkpoint on Albuquerque\u2019s west side, then refused to take a breath-alcohol test.<\/p>\n<p>A year to the day earlier, on May 20, 2017, the veteran DWI officer\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/2018\/02\/27\/how-one-influential-nm-powerbroker-might-have-escaped-a-drunken-driving-charge\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">arrested one of the state\u2019s most influential political insiders<\/a>, former Martinez Environment Department secretary and current New Mexico Oil and Gas Association President Ryan Flynn, on suspicion of DWI.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article comes from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/2018\/06\/11\/high-profile-dwi-cases-spotlight-complicated-world-of-legal-conflicts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New Mexico In Depth<\/a>. Sign up for\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.us6.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=1d2ab093d81b992e50978b363&amp;id=9294743d38\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">their newsletter<\/a>. It\u00a0was reported and edited in collaboration with the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfreporter.com\/news\/2018\/06\/11\/who-you-know\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Santa Fe Reporter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Flynn\u2019s case was dismissed; Youngblood\u2019s is just beginning to wend its way through the courts.<\/p>\n<p>Given the Albuquerque Republican\u2019s high-profile stance as a Martinez-friendly, tough-on-crime legislator, her unopposed victory in the June 5 primary election and calls for her to abandon her legislative seat, Youngblood\u2019s arrest has kicked up a political stir.<\/p>\n<p>But Youngblood\u2019s and Flynn\u2019s cases, taken together, have surfaced deeper questions about potential conflicts of interest \u2014 particularly once lawyers in a small community achieve a certain lofty status \u2014 and how criminal justice officials can navigate them, assuring the public that well-connected defendants are treated the same as everyday citizens in court.<\/p>\n<p>A good government advocate has criticized the circumstances surrounding Flynn\u2019s dismissal, and at least one attorney has filed a court motion seeking to disqualify the entire office of Bernalillo County District Attorney Raul Torrez from a separate DWI case. The motion rests on information unearthed by SFR and New Mexico In Depth questioning whether the office had created a sufficient firewall to avoid a conflict between prosecutors and defense lawyers in the Flynn case.<\/p>\n<p>A blanket \u201ctrust us\u201d from officials is not enough to ensure the public\u2019s faith in the criminal justice system, the court motion and the advocate say.<\/p>\n<p>Legal ethics experts say the rules governing such conflicts are gray. Officials rely largely on individual attorneys\u2019 integrity to avoid conflicts \u2014 a sort of honor system \u2014 and policies in law firms and prosecutors\u2019 offices to ensure the fair administration of justice.<\/p>\n<p>The cast of characters, strikingly similar in both the Flynn and Youngblood cases, offers a glimpse into the longstanding relationships that can form in legal communities where practitioners may see each other regularly, and demonstrates the need for safeguards.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Monta\u00f1o was the arresting officer in both cases; both defendants have helped turn the gears of the Martinez political machine; and their closely connected attorneys have ties to the state lawyers and supervisors assigned to prosecute the two politicos.<\/p>\n<p>Flynn\u2019s lawyers, Nicole Moss and Kari Morrissey, share space in a two-story, Spanish-revival-style dwelling on 12th Street in Albuquerque owned by Paul Kennedy, who has raked in millions of taxpayer dollars as the governor\u2019s favored contract lawyer and whom she once appointed to the state Supreme Court.<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy now represents Youngblood.<\/p>\n<p>According to\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/2018\/04\/12\/emails-show-prosecutors-misled-public-about-plea-deal-with-former-martinez-cabinet-secretary\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">emails obtained by SFR and NMID<\/a>, Morrissey worked with Deputy District Attorney Jason Greenlee, another former Martinez judicial appointee, to plead Flynn\u2019s aggravated DWI case down to careless driving, which carries far less strident penalties. However, the emails showed Greenlee was supposed to have been \u201cremoved\u201d from decision-making in the case because he and Flynn\u2019s attorneys are \u201creally good friends.\u201d (Flynn\u2019s other defense attorney, Moss, also served as the treasurer of Greenlee\u2019s failed 2014 campaign for a Metropolitan Court judgeship).<\/p>\n<p>Greenlee also entered his appearance as the prosecutor in the Youngblood case two days after her arrest last month. He has since withdrawn. It is unclear why.<\/p>\n<p>Sussing out whether friendships between prosecutors and defense lawyers could impact a case can be difficult, says Marsha Baum, associate dean for academic affairs at the University of New Mexico School of Law. The guidelines, set up by the American Bar Association, are \u201caspirational\u201d and leave room for interpretation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe lawyer has to decide: Is this a significant personal relationship that I have? \u2018I have a beer with them occasionally because I see them at the trial lawyers association meetings,\u2019 vs. \u2018I\u2019m playing golf together with them every week because they\u2019re my best friend,\u2019\u201d says Baum, speaking generally and not about any specific case. \u201cThat\u2019s a very different kind of relationship, but it still leaves it to the lawyer to decide. Or, does the office have a policy saying if you have this type of relationship, you should disclose it to the supervising attorney?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>DA Torrez and his spokesman, Michael Patrick, did not hand over policies that relate to conflicts of interest, and they ignored written questions and a request for an interview with Torrez for this story.<\/p>\n<p>Baum says that for prosecutors, except in specifically forbidden categories \u2014 familial ties, marriage, romantic relationships \u2014 the calculus for measuring conflicts is: \u201cCan I use my best professional judgment and prosecute this case effectively? Am I being fair to other defendants who have come up on similar charges when I don\u2019t have a friend on the other side? Am I going to have the same result with that person as I would have with my friend? They should be questioning that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Viki Harrison, executive director of Common Cause New Mexico, puts a finer point on it. She says conflicts of interest in high-profile criminal cases such as those unearthed by SFR and NMID in Flynn\u2019s dismissal make the public feel like the criminal justice system \u201cisn\u2019t looking out for the regular person.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re supposed to be there for the law \u2014 not for themselves, not for their friends,\u201d Harrison says of prosecutors.<\/p>\n<p>SFR and NMID\u2019s reporting on the Flynn case triggered legal blowback for the DA\u2019s office. In a separate DWI case, defense attorney Joel Davis\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/4501385-DWI-Recusal-Motion.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">filed a motion to disqualify<\/a>\u00a0the entire office from prosecuting his client on traffic and aggravated DWI charges.<\/p>\n<p>Davis wrote he and Joshua Boone, who supervises DWI cases in the office, once worked in the same law firm. Davis sued Boone after Davis departed the firm, alleging Boone owed him money. Davis described the split as \u201cacrimonious\u201d and worried in his court motion that the DA\u2019s office would not be able to treat his client fairly.<\/p>\n<p>In a telephone conversation, Boone assured Davis he would not be prosecuting the case, according to the motion. But Davis was unconvinced. He argued that emails from the Flynn case, published by SFR and NMID, showed the district attorney\u2019s office had demonstrated an inability to wall off conflicts.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, Greenlee stayed involved, negotiating a plea deal with Flynn\u2019s team.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDue to the nature of the emails exposed during the Ryan Flynn case by the NM In Depth [and SFR] articles, and [public records], it does not appear that a \u2018Chinese Wall\u2019 as Joshua D Boone states will be effective enough to prevent a conflict or appearance of a conflict or bias by the 2nd DA\u2019s Office in this matter,\u201d Davis wrote.<\/p>\n<p>In court-filed responses, Greenlee\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/4501389-Response-to-Davis-Motion.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">initially fought Davis\u2019 motion<\/a>, but has since\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/4501502-Youngblood-Greenlee-Withdrawal.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">offered to remove the Metro Court division<\/a>\u00a0of the DA\u2019s office \u2014 which includes himself and Boone \u2014 but not the entire office from the case.<\/p>\n<p>A judge has not ruled on Davis\u2019 motion.<\/p>\n<p>Harrison of Common Cause says that while attorneys may look to the law to handle conflicts of interest, the public is more concerned about perceptions of such conflicts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re doing what the law requires; they\u2019re doing what the law says,\u201d Harrison says. \u201cI always say, \u2018Well, way to scrape the bottom of the barrel.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Bar Association\u2019s rules for conflicts involving prosecutors are couched in language such as \u201cshould\u201d rather than \u201cshall\u201d and, in most cases, violations don\u2019t result in discipline, says Baum, the law professor.<\/p>\n<p>However, if a pattern of conflicts arises that could impede justice, a prosecutor could face consequences, Baum says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf it comes out later that they should have recused themselves or been disqualified from the case, they can be disciplined for that, too,\u201d she says. \u201cHaving policies in place within the offices that fit within these standards is probably the most helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Neither Kennedy nor Youngblood responded to an email requesting comment for this story. Kennedy defended Youngblood in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.abqjournal.com\/1176802\/ex-supreme-court-justice-to-represent-youngblood.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a statement to the\u00a0<i>Albuquerque Journal<\/i><\/a><i>,<\/i>\u00a0saying she\u00a0is \u201centitled to all due process, just like every other American.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy has in the past expressed concern that speaking with either one of the reporters on this story could create a conflict. One reporter was involved in a lawsuit against his most prominent client, Gov. Martinez. The other is suing the state for his billing records in several cases in which he represented the Martinez administration.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, Kennedy\u2019s decades-long legal career has led to countless relationships across the justice system \u2014 including a tangential connection to the man who will presumably oversee the prosecution of Youngblood.<\/p>\n<p>The supervisor, Greenlee, is married to Albuquerque attorney Elizabeth Radosevich, who was once Kennedy\u2019s lawyer; she represented him in a contentious probate case involving Kennedy\u2019s former law partner, Mary Han, who had died.<\/p>\n<p>Two days after a reporter contacted Radosevich to inquire about her relationship with Kennedy, Greenlee formally withdrew as the prosecutor from the Youngblood case \u2014 a week after a judge had ordered him to step aside. However, unlike in attorney Davis\u2019 DWI case, in which Davis alleged conflicts with the DA\u2019s office, Greenlee has made no indication that he will not supervise the Youngblood case, or remove the entire Metro division.<\/p>\n<p>Radosevich said in a telephone interview that even if Greenlee were prosecuting Youngblood, there would be no conflict of interest because she no longer represents Kennedy. She added, \u201cI have no involvement in his work with his clients on his cases.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One justice system official has stepped aside completely from the Youngblood case, citing the possible appearance of a conflict of interest.<\/p>\n<p>The case was initially assigned to Chief Metro Court Judge Edward Benavidez. He recused himself because, in his role as chief judge, he testifies before the Legislature. That has meant answering questions from Youngblood and could again, if she decides to stay on the ballot come November.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Legal ethics experts say the rules governing such conflicts are gray.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":591497,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[142,107],"class_list":["post-591488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-crime","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591488","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=591488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591488\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/591497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}