The chief criminal judge at Metropolitan Court has essentially put the kibosh on an outspoken former district attorney’s prospects at taking a job prosecuting traffic arraignments, officials said.
Scott Becket, who left the DA’s Office last summer after several years of prosecuting mostly DWIs and often disagreeing with the way the court handled those cases, says a group of Metro judges who refuse to allow him to practice in their courtrooms are interfering with his ability to get a job and health insurance.
Becket is considering speaking with an attorney about a possible employment or civil rights lawsuit.
Court spokeswoman Janet Blair said judges didn’t interfere with Becket’s prospective employment.
Assistant City Attorney Greg Wheeler said he was all set to offer Becket the traffic arraignment position until another attorney notified him that Becket “had some problems at Metro Court.” So Wheeler met with Judge Victor Valdez, who heads up the court’s criminal division, last week.
“Judge Valdez said there were several judges who would not allow Mr. Becket into their courtrooms,” Wheeler said. “He said that since Mr. Becket had had issues at Metro Court, he wouldn’t be the right person for the job. He cautioned me that Mr. Becket wouldn’t be a good hire.”
Wheeler said Valdez did not tell him which judges refused to work with Becket or what issues the former prosecutor had at the court.
After the meeting with Valdez, Wheeler canceled Becket’s interview for the job – a city position that prosecutes and handles plea agreements on traffic cases at Metro Court. An attorney in that job would appear before all 19 Metro judges on a rotating basis.
Blair said Valdez did not suggest to Wheeler that he shouldn’t hire Becket. In fact, Blair said, the judge told Wheeler that if he did hire Becket, the court would require the city to find a different attorney to handle traffic arraignments when the cases were assigned to judges who refuse to work with Becket.
Blair said Valdez offered to provide Wheeler a list of those judges, although she could not provide such a list to the Journal.
Becket said there are some judges who are harboring bad blood.
“First of all, I don’t think the city is under any obligation to call a judge and ask if it’s OK to hire somebody,” Becket said. “And I don’t think a judge has any business saying I don’t want to hear a case because this attorney or that attorney is on it. My point of view is that judges fear nothing more than bad press. Most of the bar in this state lets them get away with their chicanery. I don’t. I call them on it.”
Blair said judges can recuse themselves from cases when they don’t believe they can be impartial. She said blanket recusals for a particular attorney are rare, but they “do happen.”
— This article appeared on page C1 of the Albuquerque Journal
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