NEW MEXICO PUBLIC DEFENDER COMMISSION MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 3, 2017 MEETING Law Offices of the Public Defender Albuquerque, New Mexico

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1 NEW MEXICO PUBLIC DEFENDER COMMISSION MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 3, 2017 MEETING Law Offices of the Public Defender Albuquerque, New Mexico The meeting of the New Mexico Public Defender Commission was called to order by Thomas J. Clear, III, Chairman, on Friday, November 3, 2017 at 10:10 a.m. A. Call to Order: Public Defender Commissioners present: Thomas Clear, Chairman Raymond Sanchez, Vice Chairman Molly Schmidt-Nowara, Secretary (Excused due to a Court Hearing) Ahmad Assed Daniel Banks Hugh Dangler Jennifer Romero Dean Leo Romero (Absent/Excused: at a Retreat) Naomi Salazar Michael Stout The Honorable Michael Vigil (Ret. District Court Judge) Absent/Excused Staff present were Chief Ben Baur, Deputy Chief Philip Larragoite, Deputy Chief Chandler Blair, Cydni Sanchez (Administrative Services Director), Randy Chavez (Contract Services Director), Barbara Auten (Human Resources Director) Shelly Espinosa, (Chief Financial Officer), David Henderson (Appellate Division), Richard Pugh (District Defender), Patricia Anders (Training and Recruiting Director, Chris Knight (Albuquerque Office), Chris Dodd (Albuquerque Office), and Matt Bevington. B. Approval of Amended Draft Agenda. Moved by Commissioner Jennifer Romero and seconded by Commissioner Salazar to approve the amended draft agenda. Motion passed unanimously. (Agenda attached) C. Approval of Minutes of August 18, Moved by Commissioner Jennifer Romero to adopt minutes except to defer action on Statement by Commissioner Jennifer Romero as part of the minutes, seconded by Commissioner Dangler. Motion to approve minutes, except to defer action Draft Minutes, Public Defender Commission Meeting, November 3, 2018 Page 1 of 5

2 on Statement by Commissioner Jennifer Romero as a part of the minutes, passed unanimously. (Partial Minutes attached) D. Approval of Minutes of August 29, Moved by Commissioner Assed, seconded by Vice-Chair Sanchez. Motion to approve minutes passed unanimously. (Minutes attached) E. Chairman Report. 1. Chairman Clear reported of the presentation and progress made with Chief Baur at the Legislative Finance Committee Meeting in Truth or Consequences on September 29, Chairman Clear discussed his visit on October 13, 2017 to the LOPD Offices in Ruidoso and what he learned about the challenges for and progress made by LOPD Supervising Attorney Matt Chavez and his team. Additional concern was raised and discussed concerning a Bar Complaint filed by DA Sugg against an Assistant Public Defender in Ruidoso. Chairman Clear discussed the hard work by the administration to support the Ruidoso office that was evident from his visit. In particular, high praise was given by the lawyers in Ruidoso for the work of Deputy Chief Blair who had been spending significant time helping to improve the Ruidoso office. 3. Chairman Clear discussed his attendance as a presenter at a non-partisan Town Hall at Del Norte High School in Albuquerque on October 15, 2017 concerning crime in Albuquerque that was attended by several hundred concerned citizens. F. Report of Chief Baur. 1. Chief Baer reported about the progress and work with legislators that has been spearheaded by Deputy Chief Larragoite among others. 2. The Lea County excessive caseload litigation resulted in a negative decision by the New Mexico Supreme Court that was published after the July 26, 2017 oral argument. He updated on the work and Leadership of District Defender Julie Ball who now is overseeing the Ninth Judicial District (Portales and Clovis) and the Hobbs office. District Defender Draft Minutes, Public Defender Commission Meeting, November 3, 2018 Page 2 of 5

3 Deidre Ewing continues to work hard overseeing the offices in Roswell and Carlsbad. 3. The excessive caseload litigation in Lincoln County is on hold after a pending hearing was vacated by Judge Bryant. 4. Contract Counsel issues were discussed. There are too many cases and too few available attorneys to even take contacts as we lose existing contact counsel. Problems are acute in Hobbs. A higher case contact rate is going to be necessary to attack the necessary contractors. 5. Recruiting and Training and being emphasized with the scope of recruiting being expanded. Director Anders reported on exciting new expansion of recruitment efforts that have begun to realize some excellent new defenders. She gave an additional update on training advances. Director Cydni Sanchez gave an update of her work with UNM Law School concerning placement and a possible Public Defender Clinic. 6. Chief Baer closed with thanking his entire team for their initiative, hard work and ideas in making indigent defense more successful in New Mexico. 7. Questions and discussion focused on Initial Appearances and Bail Reform and the increased workload for our attorneys and contractors. G. Public Comment. There was no public comment. H. Technology Presentation. Chris Knight and Chris Dodd from the Albuquerque Office made a presentation demonstrating the Mircrosoft Surface Pros that have been purchased in June for every attorney in the LOPD. The demonstration showed the access to information including all case information, access to statutes and rules, and ability to wirelessly to view video and audio discovery and effectively use the discovery for impeachment. Thanks was offered to Chris Knight and Chris Dodd for their hard work in developing the programming for the Surface Pros that would be distributed to all LOPD attorneys in the coming months. I. Executive Session. Moved by Commissioner Assed, seconded by Commissioner Stout to proceed to executive session for the purposes stated in the agenda. Motion passed unanimously at 12:05 p.m. Commissioner Assed moved to rise from executive session, seconded by Commissioner Draft Minutes, Public Defender Commission Meeting, November 3, 2018 Page 3 of 5

4 Dangler. Motion passed unanimously at 1:45 p.m. and the meeting returned to Open Session and Chairman Clear announced that only those matters on agenda item VIII. B(1)(a)(i) were discussed in executive session pursuant to Section H (7) and that no final action concerning those matters was taken. Commissioner Assed moved for the Commission to consider adopting an ethically responsible interim case refusal protocol, second by Commissioner Salazar. Motion passed unanimously. J. Retreat Committee. Commissioner Salazar, Chair of the Committee, announced that the committee had established that the retreat would commence on Friday, December 8, 2017 starting at 3:45 p.m. running for two hours. Dinner would follow at hosted by Vice-Chair Sanchez at his residence. Reconvene at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday December 9, Committee Member Commissioner Dangler reported that the committee determined that Friday afternoon would be used to listen to LOPD line attorneys, staff and contractors and the issues that they raise. Saturday morning will focus on addressing the issues with indigent defense in rural New Mexico. After lunch, three breakout groups would focus on (a) alliances, (b) priorities (c) reorganizing and re-energizing the Commission. Commissioner Salazar advised that the committee determined no budget expenditure for the retreat was both possible and a great message from the Commission. K. Discrimination Seminar Committee. Commissioner Assed reported that the committee would be meeting to discuss possible moderators/trainers. Commissioner Salazar requested that the LOPD provide to the Commission gender pay data information concerning LOPD employees. L. Rules Committee. Commissioner Banks, Committee Chair, reported meeting with Commissioner Leo Romero to work on the proposed rule dealing with removal of a commissioner. Chairman Clear announced that Commissioner Assed has accepted the appointment as the new chair of the Rules Committee with the appointment of additional members Vice-Chair Sanchez, Commissioner Banks, Commissioner Leo Romero and Commissioner Salazar. M. Performance Standards Committee: Commissioner Banks, Co-Chair of the Committee, advised that there is was report for this meeting, but that a meeting contemplated to address video participation at Initial Appearances. Draft Minutes, Public Defender Commission Meeting, November 3, 2018 Page 4 of 5

5 N. Eligibility Committee: Commissioner Jennifer Romero, Chair of the Committee, reported that the LOPD is working on implementation and is addressing implementation costs in the budget recommendations and requests. No meeting is anticipated before the next meeting. O. Budget Committee. Commissioner High Dangler, Chairman of the Budget Committee, reported that the Department is already at a deficit for the year. The very high vacancy rate is being addressed by the Department and has been reduced from 17-18% down to 14% which is still very high. An application for Supplemental Budget is being presented within the next week. The independent audit came back with no negative findings for FY2017. P. Legislative Committee. Deputy Chief Larragoite indicated that the next Legislative Session would have significant criminal legislative activity and would be quite contentious. Additionally, the anticipation is that the DA s may get a bigger bump in budget. The Legislative Finance Committee sent a letter is support of our $50, workload grant to Mr. Hanlon. This is a one-time appropriation. Q. Next Meeting. Friday December 8, 2017 at 3:45 p.m.: Retreat L. Adjourn. Motion to adjourn by Commissioner Dangler and second by Commissioner Assed. Passed unanimously, and meeting adjourned at 2:20 p.m. Draft Minutes, Public Defender Commission Meeting, November 3, 2018 Page 5 of 5