Judge Erred in Vigil-Giron Case, Prosecutor Says

The special prosecutor in the corruption case against former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron says a judge made several errors in deciding to dismiss the case for violation of Vigil-Giron’s speedy-trial rights.

Prosecutor Joseph E. CampBell is appealing the decision by state District Judge Reed Sheppard of Albuquerque to the state Court of Appeals in a bid to get the case reinstated.

In documents filed this week, CampBell says Sheppard misapplied case law on speedy-trial rights, overlooked delays in the case caused by Vigil-Giron and her co-defendants and erred in finding that Vigil-Giron had suffered prejudice as a result of delays.

The special prosecutor also says Vigil-Giron didn’t object to delays caused by her co-defendants and that she waived her claim to a speedy trial by requesting that she be tried after one of the co-defendants.

The Court of Appeals will now set a schedule for the prosecution and defense to file legal briefs in the case.

Vigil-Giron, who says she now goes by Rebecca D. Vigil, served a total of 12 years as secretary of state — 1987 through 1990 and 1999 through 2006.

She and three others — consultant Armando Gutierrez and husband-and-wife lobbyists Joseph and Elizabeth “Daisy” Kupfer — were indicted by a state grand jury in August 2009 on charges related to the alleged embezzlement of federal money meant for voter education.

In a ruling in November, Sheppard found that the 39-month delay in bringing Vigil-Giron to trial “weighs heavily against the State” in deciding whether her speedy-trial rights were violated.

The judge also found that Vigil-Giron’s assertion of her right to a speedy trial “heavily favors” her and that she had established the suffering of prejudice as a result of the delay, including undue anxiety and stress. He also said her defense had been impaired by the death of a witness during the delay.

The office of state Attorney General Gary King brought the case against Vigil-Giron but was later forced to turn it over to a special prosecutor after a judge found a perception of a conflict of interest.

The AG’s Office provided legal advice to Vigil-Giron, while she was in office, on the use of some of the federal funds at the center of the case. The advice came from the civil side of the AG’s Office, not the criminal side, which handled the corruption investigation.

King’s office says it has been unfairly blamed for the dismissal, and to a degree that position is correct.

In his ruling, Sheppard looked at events in the case and the conduct of the state, including the prosecution and courts, and the defense.

In September 2009, Vigil-Giron filed her motion to disqualify the AG’s Office from prosecution, but the judge assigned to the case, then-District Judge Albert “Pat” Murdoch, didn’t hold a hearing on the motion until March 2011.

Sheppard said the 18 months that it took Murdoch to hear the motion “was not reasonable.”

Murdoch disqualified the AG’s Office shortly after he held a hearing in March 2011, but it then took the state four months to get a special prosecutor into place.

Under an agreement with the AG’s Office, state District Attorney Kari Brandenburg in Albuquerque hired CampBell as the prosecutor.

Another delay occurred when Murdoch resigned after his arrest in July 2011 on charges of raping a prostitute. The charges have since been dismissed.

Sheppard noted that it took more than five months for him to be assigned by District Court to take over the case.

Vigil-Giron — unlike her co-defendants in the state case — has never been charged in a parallel federal prosecution.

In the federal case, the Kupfers were convicted in August of evading taxes on more than $750,000. Vigil-Giron had asked in the state case to be tried after Gutierrez, according to CampBell.

Gutierrez’s firm received $6.3 million in federal funds from Vigil-Giron’s office for a voter-education media campaign that ran from 2004 through 2006. A federal audit found Gutierrez couldn’t produce records to substantiate $3.7 million of the $6.3 million.

The meat of the federal criminal case is still pending: an allegation that Gutierrez and Joe Kupfer stole more than $2.5 million of the federal funds.

UpFront is a daily front-page news and opinion column. Comment directly to Thom Cole at tcole@abqjournal.com or 505-992-6280 in Santa Fe. Go to www.abqjournal.com/letters/new to submit a letter to the editor.
— This article appeared on page A1 of the Albuquerque Journal