CRIME TIME: Lemuel Martinez, 13th Judicial District Attorney, explains how his office has grown to the Rio Rancho Moose Club.

Rising caseload major concern for DA Martinez

By Eric Maddy
The SCORE

The tremendous growth in Sandoval County, and the increase in criminal activity that naturally follows a growing population, is not the only thing that keeps district attorney Lemuel Martinez up at nights.

“Valencia County is actually the fastest growing county in the state (by percentage of population increase),” Martinez said Thursday night in a presentation to the Rio Rancho Moose Club, 5009 Industrial Loop. “And has anybody heard about what’s happening in Cibola County? Uranium is up past $120 a pound, and you know who has the largest uranium deposits in North America – Cibola County.

“We might have the three fastest-growing counties very soon. Cibola County is about ready to explode.”

Just the luck for Martinez, who as the D.A. for the 13th Judicial District oversees all three counties. That’s a land area of 8,685 square miles that stretches all the way to the Arizona border that contains nearly 250,000 people, the second largest district in the state by population behind Bernalillo County (Albuquerque).

In addition to addressing the member’s questions on numerous topics from preventing employee theft to the death penalty, Martinez, who actually operates and resides out of Grants, also provided caseload statistics that seemed most staggering.
Since Martinez was first elected in 2000 to the end of 2006:

•In Sandoval County, the caseload increased from 1,292 to 3,014, a 133 percent increase.

•In Valencia County, the numbers jumped from 1,600 to 2,765, a 58 percent hike.

•In Cibola County, a caseload of 1,075 increased to 1,762, up 61 percent.

“Overall, we’re looking at an 80 percent-plus increase over a 6½ year period,” Martinez said. “With massive growth going on, there’s a massive caseload that goes with it.”

By making presentations such as the one at the Moose Club, Martinez said he is doing one of the biggest parts of his job – public awareness. In addition to encouraging citizen participation by simply reporting crimes in the first place, Martinez knows it will also translate into votes – for and against legislators who determine his budget, and on down the road his reelection campaign(s).

“This growth is not going to stop,” Martinez said. “We’re going to continue to be dynamic, to have growth pains. And that’s why I’m fighting hard to get more resources from the Legislature and other places to keep up with this extremely fast-rising caseload.”

And the efforts are starting to pay off.

“Even though I had practiced in the district (as a defense attorney before his election), I had no idea of everything that is involved,” Martinez said. “It took me a good year or more to get a handle on it.

“In those days it (going to the Legislature for additional resources) was like, ‘Who are you?’” he said. “Last year I asked for nine more (prosecutors) and I got eight. It takes time to build it up, and we can’t stop because the growth sure isn’t.”

District attorneys are the only offices empowered to prosecute felonies in the state. That would be enough of a workload, but Martinez said his office has also chosen to prosecute misdemeanor DWI and domestic violence cases.

 “You need a level playing field when you’re in court and the defendant has an attorney and they’re going against a law enforcement officer,” Martinez said. “The district attorney needs to be in there so that those important cases don’t fall through the cracks.”

Besides tapping the Legislature, Martinez’s office has taken on separate contracts to prosecute cases for specific municipalities, such as the city of Grants and two Native American pueblos. The Indian Gaming Regulation Act giants concurrent jurisdiction with federal prosecutors, so now the 13th District is prosecuting crimes committed at Santa Ana and Acoma casinos.

Martinez said his district is the first to take advantage of the IGRA provisions.

“Before the state couldn’t get in there, (the pueblos being) an independent sovereign nation ,” he said. “Before it was ‘Hope the U.S. Attorney will do it. If not, bye-bye. No accountability.”

Santa Ana pays $50,000 a year for the D.A.’s office to prosecute the crimes, and Acoma pays $87,500. “That’s money that I use to get another prosecutor and a another secretary, with a  little change for paperwork. It’s an important service we do to keep breaking down barriers to crime that still exist in other places in our state and country.

Besides the population growth, Martinez said one reason for crime growth is that crooks are moving their enterprises from Albuquerque to surrounding areas.

“Albuquerque does a really good job of using their nuisance abatement program to shut down those old motels and crack houses in their ‘war zone,’” Martinez said. “They’re doing a good job of condemning those places, paying these people off and shoving them out. But do you know where they’re going? Valencia County and Sandoval County, where they can still be close to whatever they had in Albuquerque.”

One bit of good news: Though cases are up, the level of murder isn’t following the trend.

“Thank God the seriousness of the caseloads in Sandoval County, even though it has grown the most (in caseload), hasn’t, “ he said. “We’re still averaging one to three murders a year here. These (increased cases in Sandoval County) are embezzlement crimes, drug crimes, stolen car crimes, things like that. So far we don’t have (more murders.”

The bad news for Martinez?

“Valencia County is probably the most violent county in the state,” he said. “We have between 15 and 20 murders a year,” which extrapolates to a higher rate per capita than even Albuquerque.

“Valencia County, for as small as it is, is a very violent place to live.”

Martinez also touted four program inaugurated during his tenure for juvenile justice, pre-prosecution diversion, victim’s rights and worthless checks. Martinez, who taught in Santa Fe for 10 years before becoming a lawyer, noted the caseload figures would be even higher if not for those programs.

Though he’s often on the road, Martinez still seems enthused and dedicated to his job.

“Why do we prosecute criminals? We do it to try to make our communities safer, make schools safer for our children and to try to make it safer out in the open spaces where we all participate in recreation,” he said.

And it could always be worse.

“Look at District 7 – Catron, Socorro, Sierra and Torrance counties, It’s the  largest judicial district in the U.S. by square miles,” Martinez said. .

“There are probably more cows than people, but it’s huge. “I have to drive a lot, but I really feel for the D.A. over there. He is probably on the road all the time.”

The district attorney’s office has two locations in the Rio Rancho area. More information and assistance is available at the Sandoval County Judicial Complex, 1500 Idalia Road, (867-2386), and the old four-story AMREP Building, 333 Rio Rancho Blvd., Suite 303, (896-3952).