NM Attorney General files petition to remove Gallup district attorney from office

SANTA FE — In a move that could break a tense legal stalemate, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed a petition Monday seeking to remove the McKinley County district attorney from office for failing to adequately do her job.

The petition filed in the state Supreme Court alleges that Bernadine Martin, the embattled district attorney, has violated state procurement laws, created a hostile work environment and relied on contract attorneys after running off all staff attorneys in her office.

She also broke state law by engaging in private legal practice while serving as district attorney, the state Department of Justice alleged in its court filing.

"In effect, respondent is the elected district attorney in name only," Edward Marshall, the director of government litigation in Torrez's office, wrote in the 25-page petition.

"She has delegated her responsibilities and the trust of her constituents to hired guns whom she does not supervise, evaluate, or direct on either law or policy," he added.

The Supreme Court filing comes two months after the state Department of Justice launched an investigation into Martin's job performance at the request of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

It also comes as Martin has defended her job performance and sought emergency state dollars following a legislative vote to defund her office.

The defunding, which took effect for the budget year that started July 1, was orchestrated by Senate Finance Committee Chairman George Muñoz, D-Gallup. Muñoz has described the drastic budgetary action as a last resort, after he was approached by judges and public defenders with concerns over mismanagement and heavy case loads in Martin's office.

The district attorney has pushed back against the allegations, and argued in a Supreme Court filing of her own the defunding represented an unlawful overreach by the Legislature.

However, the Supreme Court denied her petition, and two separate requests for emergency funding from the state Board of Finance were similarly denied.

The second of those requests was rejected Monday, with the Board of Finance voting 3-1 to deny her request for $3.8 million in emergency funds.

"We don't need to be involved in any way, shape or form," board member Michael Sanchez, a former state senator, said at one point during the hearing.

Few cases of NM public officials being removed

Martin, who is the state’s first female Navajo district attorney, was reelected last year as the top prosecutor for the second division of the 11th Judicial District.

She did not immediately respond Monday to a request for comment about the removal petition.

Earlier this month, Martin held a news conference in Gallup in an attempt to rally support for her cause. But she faced mostly questions and criticism from community members, including family members of crime victims, before abruptly ending the event.

Martin has denied suggestions about a hostile work environment, while insisting she will not hand over operations of her office to San Juan County District Attorney Jack Fortner, who received the bulk of the funding for the McKinley County District Attorney's office under the legislative budget plan.

Under state law, district attorneys can only be removed from office in certain circumstances, including conviction of a felony offense, failure to discharge the duties of the office and gross incompetency or negligence.

The Department of Justice petition claims Martin meets two of those criteria — the ones dealing with the duties of her office and gross incompetency or negligence.

However, it's not common for New Mexico officials to be removed from elected office.

Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin was removed in September 2022 by a state judge for his role in Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C.

Before that, former Public Regulation Commissioner Carol Sloan was removed from the Public Regulation Commission in 2010 after being convicted of felony charges for attacking a woman she believed was having an affair with her husband.

Hostile work environment claims

Much of the Department of Justice's petition seeking Martin's removal focuses on her handling of the McKinley County District Attorney's office.

There were 11 staff attorneys employed by the office when Martin was first elected in 2020, but most of those attorneys began leaving shortly after she took office, the petition alleges, putting a heavy strain on those who remained.

Investigators cited one instance when a staff attorney was fired by Martin in a courtroom. They also talked to former chief deputy district attorney Mandana Shoushtari, who said she was handling more than 900 cases in 2024 and "literally was cracking under the pressure."

Shoushtari was asked to resign in September 2024, and no staff attorneys are currently employed by the office. Instead, the office relies on two contract attorneys, whose contracts were renewed on July 1 even though there were no funds in the district attorney's budget to do so, according to the court petition.

The petition also alleges Martin violated state law by using state funds to prepare her court filings challenging the defunding of her office. She also reportedly used state funds to pay her Navajo Nation Bar dues.

Meanwhile, it's unclear how quickly the Supreme Court might act on the removal petition, as no court dates had been set as of late Monday.