![\"Dianna](\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Duran-Dianna-336x232.jpg\")
<\/a>Courtesy photo<\/p>
Dianna Duran<\/p><\/div>\n
“Let there be no doubt that Ms. Duran will plead not guilty to the attorney general’s sensational and misleading charges and will vigorously fight this selective prosecution,” Duran’s attorney, Erlinda Ocampo Johnson, told NMPolitics.net late Monday.<\/p>\n
It’s the first time Duran’s attorney has said the embattled secretary of state would plead not guilty. On Friday, after Duran was charged<\/a>, Johnson said there were “potential violations of law” by the attorney general in its investigation. Because of that, she pledged to file a motion seeking dismissal of\u00a0the charges. But, at the time, she didn’t proclaim Duran’s innocence.<\/p>\n Duran’s attorney didn’t answer a question about whether Duran is considering resigning. House Democrats called Monday for the Republican\u00a0to resign<\/a> or, if she won’t, for their GOP colleagues to join them in discussing possible impeachment proceedings.<\/p>\n Johnson also said Monday the Attorney General’s Office\u00a0has not turned over evidence upon which the charges are based despite requests.<\/p>\n And she pushed back against a spreadsheet<\/a> the AG’s criminal complaint<\/a> included that states about\u00a0$430,000 was\u00a0electronically debited from accounts controlled by Duran at several New Mexico casinos in 2013 and 2014.<\/p>\n The criminal complaint alleges that Duran illegally took less than $10,000 from her campaign account for personal use, not several hundred thousand dollars, Johnson pointed out.<\/p>\n While calling the spreadsheet “misleading,” Johnson didn’t say the $430,000 was an inaccurate number. The criminal complaint doesn’t indicate how Duran got much of the money it alleges\u00a0she withdrew, or what she did with it.<\/p>\n Duran isn\u2019t accused of stealing public money. She\u2019s accused of illegally using campaign contributions. Investigators allege several\u00a0instances in which checks intended to be campaign donations were deposited into Duran\u2019s personal bank account.<\/p>\n Attorney General Hector Balderas, a Democrat, also\u00a0alleges tampering with public records, conspiracy and violations of the Governmental Conduct Act.<\/p>\n Balderas’ office wouldn’t take questions Monday. Spokesman\u00a0James Hallinan\u00a0said the office\u00a0won\u2019t comment on the case before a preliminary hearing is held.<\/p>\n A prior version of this posting incorrectly stated in the headline that Duran’s attorney said she would plead innocent. That’s not the correct legal term. “Not guilty” is the correct term, and the headline has been updated.<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Secretary of State Dianna Duran plans to fight allegations that she committed fraud, embezzlement, money laundering and other crimes related to abusing the state’s campaign finance system, her attorney says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55834,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[142,1191,705,107],"class_list":["post-79907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-crime","tag-dianna-duran","tag-money-in-politics","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79907","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=79907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}