Nonpartisan commission recommends 35 of 39 judges for retention in this year’s election
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — After evaluating the performance of 39 New Mexico judges seeking retention in this year’s general election, a commission is recommending 35 of them for retention.
According to the New Mexico Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission, the other four candidates “have not served sufficient time for JPEC to make a recommendation to voters.”
The commission evaluated the judges on legal ability, fairness, communication skills and preparation, attentiveness, temperament and control over proceedings. They also reviewed statistics from the Administrative Office of the Courts for each judge, which includes caseloads, excusals and the time it takes cases to get resolved.
With all of that in mind, here are the judges the commission is recommending:
Statewide
Retain: Honorable Briana H. Zamora; Supreme Court of New Mexico
Retain: Honorable Jennifer L. Attrep, Megan P. Duffy, Shammara H. Henderson; the New Mexico Court of Appeals
First Judicial District Court – Serving Los Alamos, Rio Arriba and Santa Fe counties
Retain: Honorable Bryan Paul Biedscheid, Shannon Broderick Bulman, Matthew Justin Wilson
Second Judicial District Court – Serving Bernalillo County
Retain: Honorable Denise Barela-Shepherd, Cindy Leos, Victor S. Lopez, Brett R. Loveless, Daniel E. “Dan” Ramczyk, Courtney Bryn Weaks
Insufficient time to evaluate: Honorable David Allen Murphy, Emeterio L. Rudolfo
Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court
Retain: Honorable Felicia Blea-Rivera, Rosemary Cosgrove-Aguilar, Michelle Castillo Dowler, Asra I. Elliott, Yvette K. Gonzales, Nina Aviva Safier, Renée Torres
Third Judicial District Court– Serving Doña Ana County
Retain: Honorable Richard M. Jacquez, James T. Martin and Conrad F. Perea
Fourth Judicial District Court – Serving Guadalupe, Mora and San Miguel counties
Retain: Honorable Floripa “Flora” Gallegos
Fifth Judicial District Court – Serving Chaves, Eddy and Lea counties
Retain: Honorable James M. “Jim” Hudson and Lisa B. Riley
Insufficient time to evaluate: Honorable Ann Marie Cherokee Lewis
Sixth Judicial District Court – Serving Grant, Hidalgo and Luna counties
Retain: Honorable James B. “Jim” Foy
Seventh Judicial District Court – Serving Catron, Sierra, Socorro and Torrance counties
Retain: Honorable Shannon L. Murdock-Poff
Eighth Judicial District Court – Serving Colfax, Taos and Union counties
Retain” Honorable Jeffrey B. “Jeff” Shannon
Ninth Judicial District Court – Serving Curry and Roosevelt counties
Retain: Honorable Fred Travis Van Soelen
11th Judicial District Court – Serving McKinley and San Juan counties
Retain: Honorable Sarah V. Weaver
12th Judicial District Court – Serving Lincoln and Otero counties
Retain: Honorable Daniel A. “Dan” Bryant
13th Judicial District Court – Serving Cibola, Sandoval and Valencia counties
Retain: Honorable Cindy M. Mercer, Allen R. Smith
Insufficient time to evaluate: Honorable Allison P. Martinez
The commission also posted their evaluations in Spanish. Click here to access that.