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Saturday, November 21, 2009
Taos Judge Jails 32 for Contempt
By Vince Kong
Journal Northern Bureau
SANTA FE — Don't mess with state District Judge Sam Sanchez.
A crowd who showed up for a hearing in Sanchez's Taos courtroom spent a night behind bars for unruly behavior before the state Supreme Court sprang them Friday afternoon.
Sanchez ordered more than 30 people, almost all of them from Taos Pueblo, arrested on contempt of court charges Thursday when an outburst followed the judge's refusal to reduce the sentence of a man convicted of rape.
Until the Supreme Court intervened, those arrested were facing a total of four nights in the clink leading up to their arraignment, scheduled for Monday afternoon back in Sanchez's court.
On a motion from the state Public Defender Department, the high court stayed Sanchez's order jailing the people. They had spent Thursday night in jails in Taos, Taos Pueblo and Santa Fe. They still have to show up for the Monday arraignment hearing on their contempt charges.
New Mexico Chief Deputy Public Defender David Eisenberg said Friday that one of the people held in contempt was a bystander in the courtroom not connected to the rape case that had drawn the crowd.
Thursday's hearing in Sanchez's courtroom ended in shouting and profanity late that afternoon after Sanchez refused to reduce the sentence of Dominic Bau, 31.
Bau pleaded guilty in January to charges that he raped a 13-year-old female relative while attending his grandmother's funeral with other members of the family. Sanchez had sentenced Bau to 12 years in jail, but was asked to reconsider.
According to a report filed by the Taos County Sheriff's Office, Sanchez issued a warning to those in attendance during the hearing to keep quiet.
When Sanchez denied a motion to reconsider Bau's sentence, the defendant began "yelling and using profane language" and the audience also became unruly, prompting Sanchez to request the aid of law enforcement.
"He had asked them to calm down, or he would hold them in contempt," Undersheriff Edwardo Romero said Friday. "Apparently, they didn't take him serious, and he held everyone in the courtroom and charged them in contempt."
Eighteen people were sent to the Santa Fe County jail, eight were held at the Taos County Adult Detention Center and five were taken to the Taos Pueblo Detention Facility, because of dietary requirements, Romero said.
One, Margaret Concha, 52, was sent to Holy Cross Hospital for observation, according to the undersheriff. Romero had no update Friday on Concha's condition.
Naomi Concha, 27, one of those arrested, told KOAT-TV on Thursday night that an argument broke out in the courtroom between the families of the rape victim and the defendant.
In the motion for stay filed with the Supreme Court on Friday morning, the Taos Public Defender's Office said, "It was believed that only two or three people were mainly responsible for the outburst" in Sanchez's courtroom.
But Sanchez cast a "giant net, scooping up and summarily jailing ten times that number" of people, the petition said, "without individual hearings or any proof of responsibility," thereby violating their due process rights.
The motion said about 40 Taos Pueblo members had come to court to support reconsideration of Bau's sentence. Some of those arrested "are quite elderly and at least one had just been released from the hospital," the motion stated.
The oldest person on a list of 32 people charged with contempt released by the Sheriff's Office is 71.
The Supreme Court granted the defense motion Friday afternoon and ordered the prisoners released immediately.
Efforts to reach Judge Sanchez for comment Friday were unsuccessful. A member of his staff said he is expected to make a statement Monday.
Monday's arraignments are scheduled at 4 p.m. in Taos. Sanchez has until noon Monday to respond before the Supreme Court.
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