Eighth District judge can retire or face removal proceedings
April 21, 2011
New Mexico: Sam B. Sanchez has a tough decision to make: should he retire or allow the New Mexico Supreme Court to remove him from office? Yesterday, the high court explained it would do just that if the judge does not give notice by April 25 at 5PM.[1]
The controversy stems from a decision in November 2009. Sanchez denied a motion for retrial of a criminal who was already sentenced to 12 years in prison. Many courtroom observers disagreed with the decision, and vocally made their opinions known. At that time, Sanchez had 32 of them arrested for contempt of court. The next day, the Supreme Court released the 32 from prison.[1]
Yesterday, Chief Justice Charles Daniels said, "This was an extreme abuse of judicial power that we haven't found a match for. We are seriously considering removal." He issued a "partial order" declaring that Sanchez had five days to make a decision.[1]
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