Gov. to pick next DA
By Molly Ann Howell
Managing Editor
After months of alleged dysfunction, McKinley County District Attorney Bernadine Martin declared her resignation from her elected position in an email sent out to news outlets Feb. 26. Her resignation officially took effect Feb. 27.
In the email sent to news outlets, Martin thanked the people of McKinley County who voted for her.
“To the voting public of McKinley county: I, Bernadine Martin, thank you for your support and was honored to serve as your District Attorney,” she stated. “Over the years, we moved thousands of cases through the criminal justice system that benefitted victims, the public and defendants. I am most proud of the reduction of the DWI rate which was a campaign promise.”
Martin’s decision is pursuant to a settlement agreement with New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez. She is stepping down mere days before the New Mexico Supreme Court was to hold a trial regarding her removal. As part of the agreement, she will no longer face trial.
Torrez petitioned the court to remove Martin in August at the request of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. In the petition, the AG called Martin “unfit for the office.” The state’s highest court agreed to hear the case. It was to begin March 2.
Martin reportedly turned in her keys and badge and cleared out her desk Feb. 25. She also sent an email to some staff members stating that she would no longer sign off on plea deals or other case documents, which is the district attorney’s job. This led to suspicions that her resignation was coming.
The state legislature tried to take some power away from Martin in July, giving her budget to the neighboring San Juan County District Attorney Jack Fortner. Lujan Grisham signed off on the unprecedented move.
Martin spent months fighting back, filing a petition with the New Mexico Supreme Court to block the legislature’s decision, then a lawsuit against the governor, Sen. George Muñoz, and Fortner. When those efforts failed, Martin twice asked the New Mexico Board of Finance for Emergency Funding. It denied her requests.
By taking over Martin’s funding, the Division II District Attorney’s office included Martin’s staff in their payroll.
Fortner acknowledged that the initial transition was difficult.
In a statement published in the Albuquerque Journal,Martin lashed out at Fortner.
“Because [Fortner] gets my money doesn’t mean he runs my office,” she said in a June 11 interview.
In a June 27 issue of the Sun, Gary Risley, one of two Chief Deputy Attorneys who work in the Eleventh District Division II Court under Fortner, said the office wasn’t trying to “take” Martin’s money.
“We didn’t ask for the money, we don’t want the money, but we’ll do the job that we’ve been asked to do, but we’d really appreciate it if people stopped throwing rocks in the road,” he said. “You can knock yourself out fighting it in court, but quit trying to be an obstructionist. The people you’re going to hurt are the people who currently work for Division 2, and they shouldn’t suffer because of all this.”
Fortner said the operation eventually smoothed out once Martin signed a memorandum of understanding stating she wouldn’t intervene with Fortner’s employees or prevent them from doing their jobs.
Now that she’s resigned, Fortner and his team will continue the work of prosecuting McKinley County’s cases until Lujan Grisham chooses another district attorney.
Muñoz, who was the one redirected Martin’s funding to San Juan, expressed dissatisfaction with the outcome of the situation, although some may think he “won.”
“It’s not about me, it’s not about her. It’s about process, and it’s about justice,” he said. “Guilty or not, people deserve justice. It’s sad to see the number of cases that were dismissed.”
Muñoz led a legislative committee hearing in 2023 in which Martin defended herself on accusations she had mishandled a case dating back to 2017. Raven Livingston was hit and killed by a driver accused of going 93 miles per hour mere seconds before the crash.
Martin, at the time, said there was simply a lack of evidence. But similar concerns over her failure to prosecute serious crimes continued to mount, with the New Mexico Department of Justice noting in a filing that Martin had “declined to prosecute hundreds of cases.”
In an interview with KOB 4, Torrez said his office is currently managing 30-40 major felony cases from McKinley County.
“You know, I am very sorry for the way in which D.A. Martin’s inability to lead that office led to results in cases where we didn’t get the best outcome for victims,” Torrez told KOB 4. “All we can do is try to pick up the pieces.”
