Front Page  news  state

Friday, July 25, 2008

Attorney Reappointed to Lottery Board


Associated Press
      An Albuquerque attorney who resigned from the New Mexico Lottery Authority board after he was accused of drunken driving has been reappointed.
    Cody Kelley was reappointed by Gov. Bill Richardson, who has said he had zero-tolerance for appointees charged with driving while intoxicated.
    Kelley said he was surprised by the reappointment, which will run for five years.
    "I am familiar with the people, the organization, and I think I can help," he said Thursday.
    Allan Oliver, a spokesman for the governor, said Kelley is no longer accused and the court process is over.
    "Mr. Kelley has never been convicted of any crime and it is irresponsible to assume his guilt," Oliver said.
    "Governor Richardson remains committed to a zero-tolerance policy and demands the highest standards for all appointees and staff," Oliver said.
    Kelley was accused of crashing his pickup truck in Albuquerque during the Fourth of July weekend in 2006.
    Police had said Kelley was arrested after his breath-alcohol test registered 0.08 percent — the state's legal limit for intoxication.
    Kelley, who had been reappointed in 2005 to his second term on the board, resigned days after his arrest.
    His case was scheduled four times to go to trial, but it never did, according to Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court records.
    The state has six months to take a DWI case to trial and, in Kelley's case, prosecutors ran out of time and the case was dismissed.

Copyright ©2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.