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Lisa C. Schultz (New Mexico)
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Lisa C. Schultz was a district court judge in the Third Judicial District of New Mexico.[1] She was elected to the bench in November 2006 and retained in 2008.[2] Schultz was retained again in 2014 and in 2020.[3][4] Schultz retired from the court on June 30, 2021.[5]
Education
Schultz received her undergraduate degree from the University of Redlands, her M.T.S. degree from Harvard Divinity School, and her J.D. degree from the New York Law School.[2]
Career
- 2006-2021: Judge, New Mexico Third Judicial District Court
- 1985-2006: Attorney in private practice [2]
Awards and associations
Awards
- Governor's Award for Outstanding New Mexico Women [2]
Elections
2014
Schultz was retained to the 3rd District Court with 67.3 percent of the vote on November 4, 2014. [3]
Judicial performance evaluation
The New Mexico Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission recommended that Judge Schultz not be retained. The full report is available here.
Noteworthy events
Schultz's performance evaluation in wake of whistleblower lawsuit
In 2014, the Supreme Court of New Mexico's Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission recommended that Schultz be "not retained" to the Third Judicial District. Schultz believed that the recommendation was due to her unpopularity among court staff, local attorneys and the rest of the judiciary for her role in bringing down fellow Judge Mike Murphy.[6]
In 2011, Murphy was indicted on charges of felony bribery. According to the indictment, he had stated to others that in order to attain his judgeship he had paid off Edgar Lopez, a fundraiser for former Governor Bill Richardson. Schultz heard the comments and began carrying an audio recorder with her to record conversations between Murphy and other court staff. In August 2010, Schultz taped a conversation with Murphy in which she said to him, "You guys had mentioned to judicial candidates that it would help their chances to give money to Edgar Lopez and thence to the Governor." "Yeah of course that’s over with now because we’re going to have a new governor," responded Murphy. Schultz turned the tapes in to prosecutors. Murphy stepped down from the bench in 2012. In 2013, he entered a plea of no contest to misdemeanor misconduct charges in the case, reportedly as part of an agreement to avoid jail time.[7]
Schultz filed a whistleblower lawsuit in 2013, claiming that she had been retaliated against for her involvement in Murphy's indictment, and that she had consequently been assigned an unmanageable case load. Bryan Davis, Schultz's attorney, stated: "I think the evidence will show that there was a network of judges and others that were trying to force my client off the bench by making her life miserable."[7]
Recent news
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See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ State of New Mexico, Dona Ana County: Third Judicial District Court, "Judges by Judicial Division," accessed February 12, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 New Mexico Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission, "Lisa Claire Schultz," accessed February 12, 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 New Mexico Secretary of State, "2014 Primary Candidate List," accessed February 12, 2015
- ↑ New Mexico Secretary of State, "2020 General Election Results Statewide Summary," accessed July 13, 2022
- ↑ Las Cruces Sun News, "Third District Judge Lisa Schultz retires," accessed July 13, 2022
- ↑ Las Cruces Sun-News, "State commission recommends against retention of Judge Lisa Schultz," October 12, 2014
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 KRQE News 13, "Judge: Pay to play scheme ‘over with now’," January 20, 2014
Federal courts:
Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of New Mexico • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of New Mexico
State courts:
New Mexico Supreme Court • New Mexico Court of Appeals • New Mexico District Courts • New Mexico Magistrate Court • New Mexico Municipal Courts • New Mexico Probate Courts • New Mexico Problem-Solving Courts • New Mexico Workers' Compensation Administration Court • Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court
State resources:
Courts in New Mexico • New Mexico judicial elections • Judicial selection in New Mexico
