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NMCDLA RESPONSE SUBMITTED TO ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL – 3/27/15
LOPD COMPLAINT RE: JUDICIAL COMMENTS IN CLOVIS
The controversy from the racially charged University of Oklahoma fraternity incident has
spilled into New Mexico’s judicial system. This week the Law Office of the Public Defender
filed a formal complaint with Drew Tatum, the Chief Judge in the Ninth Judicial District,
alleging that a newly elected Judge made racist comments associated with the OU incident to a
white prosecutor, while on the bench in his judicial regalia, and in the presence of a minority
attorney working for the Law Office of the Public Defender.
The complaint requests that he be removed from presiding over the cases in which
defendants are represented by the Law Office of the Public Defender. The majority of the
indigent defendants which are represented by the Law Office of the Public Defender are Black
and Hispanic.
It is also important to note that the District Defender is also a black attorney. His presence in
the community and representation of minority defendants has allowed many to have the
confidence that their counsel understands their unique cultural history, ultimately providing them
a more effective defense. This issue coming to light is undoubtedly due to the diversity of the
Clovis office of the Law Office of the Public Defender coupled with the leadership of Jorge
Alvarado, the State’s first Hispanic Chief Public Defender.
New Mexico’s remarkable history and tradition is rooted in cultural diversity. Our court
system should reflect the same. Unfortunately, in smaller outlying communities like the Ninth
Judicial District, it does not.
Currently, all of the judges in Curry and Roosevelt counties are white. All of the prosecutors
in Curry and Roosevelt counties are white. This would not be such a critical issue if these
counties were predominately white, but they are not. The U.S. census data from 2013 shows that
American Indians, Hispanics, and Blacks make up approximately 49% of Curry County’s
population.1
In the shadow of the alleged racist comments of a presiding District Court judge, how are our
minority defendants and minority attorneys to believe that they will receive equal treatment
under the law in a judicial system that does not reflect their race in anyway and in fact is entirely
white?
Without frequent interaction with the justice system, this issue may not immediately be clear.
However, the numbers show us, at the very least, how minorities perceive injustice in the
existing justice system:
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http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/35/35009.html
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While African Americans comprise 13% of the US population and 14% of monthly drug
users they are 37% of the people arrested for drug offenses, according to 2009
Congressional testimony by Marc Mauer of The Sentencing Project.2
When you consider only those who are actually convicted and incarcerated for drug
crimes that number jumps dramatically. The proportion of people incarcerated for a drug
offense in state prison who are black or Hispanic is 57 %, although these groups use and
sell drugs at similar rates as whites.3
When we look at crimes across the board, according to the U.S. Census, Blacks are
incarcerated at five times the rate of Whites and Hispanics are nearly twice as likely to be
incarcerated as Whites. 4
In New Mexico, Blacks are incarcerated at more than 2.5 times the rate of Hispanics and
4 times the rate of Whites. 5
With the retirement of Judge Stephen Quinn quickly approaching, it is a good time for us
to reflect on the importance of having minority representation in both the judiciary and the
prosecutorial arm of our justice system. The Ninth Judicial District has recently made substantial
strides by electing Donna Mowrer its first female District Court judge and electing a female
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-quigley/fourteen-examples-of-raci_b_658947.html
http://www.drugpolicy.org/drug-war-statistics
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http://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/rates.html
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http://www.prisonpolicy.org/profiles/NM.html
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District Attorney in 2014. However, Let us not forget, it was only a few years ago the District
Court admitted to systematically removing Spanish speaking citizens from Curry County juries.
Diversity in the justice system for the Hispanic and Black community is still elusive in Eastern
New Mexico.
Submitted by Jennifer Burrill, Clovis attorney and member of the board of the New Mexico
Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. 575-607-7060 (not for publication)
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