NMAGO 05-01.
Case Date | January 14, 2005 |
Court | New Mexico |
New Mexico Attorney General Opinions
2005.
NMAGO 05-01.
January 14,
2005OPINION OF PATRICIA A. MADRID
Attorney General Opinion No. 05-01BY: Arthur
W. Pepin Assistant Attorney General TO:
Richard D. FloresDistrict Attorney,
Fourth Judicial District P.O. Box 20251800 New Mexico
AvenueLas Vegas, New Mexico 87701
RE: DEATH PENALTY P FROSECUTION FOR THE MURDER OF PRISON GUARD
RALPH GARCIA; CONFLICT OF INTEREST FOR DISTRICT ATTORNEY AND HIS ENTIRE
STAFFQUESTION:
Is Richard D. Flores, the newly elected District Attorney in the
Fourth Judicial District, who worked in private practice with an attorney
presently representing a defendant in a capital case (including representing
the defendant at least once at a hearing), subject to disqualification from the
prosecution of that case? If the District Attorney is disqualified, are other
members of his DA office similarly disqualified?
CONCLUSION:
The incoming District Attorney, Richard D. Flores, and all
members of his District Attorney's office, are clearly disqualified from
prosecuting the death penalty case against the District Attorney's and his
colleague's former client. Any involvement by DA Flores or his staff would
jeopardize any conviction obtained in the prosecution of Robert Young for the
murder of Ralph Garcia
FACTS:
On January 1, 2005, Richard D. Flores took office as the newly
elected District Attorney for the Fourth Judicial District. Pending in the
Fourth Judicial District is a death penalty murder prosecution against Robert
Young for the murder of prison guard Ralph Garcia in August 1999 during a
prison riot at Santa Rosa. The Special Prosecutions Division of the Office of
the Attorney General has been closely involved in this matter since September
1999. This office has participated in fifteen cases arising from the Santa Rosa
riot, and the Attorney General has been the attorney of record in the Young
case since his indictment. Eleven of the Santa Rosa cases have resulted in plea
dispositions in which the Attorney General was directly involved. Of the four
remaining cases, three are death penalty cases, including the prosecution of
Young, and the remaining case is a non-death penalty murder case.
The Attorney General has participated been lead counsel in all of
the extensive motions and hearings in Young's case. The Santa Rosa prosecutions
have included more than 300 interviews and depositions and generated 70,000
pages of documents to date. The Attorney General worked in partnership with the
predecessor to District Attorney Flores, devoting extensive resources to these
cases. It would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to fully inform DA
Flores or any other Special Prosecutor that he may appoint of all of the
relevant information in the Young prosecution that has been developed since
1999.
In seeking an Opinion from this office, District Attorney Flores
states that he worked with the defense attorney for capital murder defendant
Robert Young, "in a three member legal association in Las Vegas, New Mexico"
where the three lawyers "freely shared our files with one another in terms of
court settings, phone calls and deadlines." Regarding Robert Young, District
Attorney Flores states "I have read his file, discussed the case with Mr. Baca
[Young's defense attorney] and attended one hearing on Mr. Young's case." Mr...
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