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, Elaine P. Lujan, 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.