The New Mexico Supreme Court has issued an order sanctioning First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies for āthe apparent misuseā of a rule allowing a party to remove a judge from a case.
The Oct. 18 order specifically bars Carmack-Altwies from making any attempts to excuse or disqualify state District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer for 90 days.
Chief Justice David K. Thomson wrote in the order the matter had come to attention of the court āupon the written notice and requestā of District Court Chief Judge Bryan Biedscheid.
Carmack-Altwies has responded by asking the Supreme Court to place a monitor in Sommerās courtroom for all proceedings. She cited āserious concerns about decorum and temperament,ā according to a Nov. 5 letter she addressed to Thomson.
āI have had several attorneys leave the office and/or request to be relocated outside of Judge Marlowe Sommerās court due to their feelings that they were treated with disrespect and contempt,ā Carmack-Altwies wrote in the letter.
Sommer did not respond to requests for comment Thursday. She has been on the bench since 2010 and is one of three judges in the First Judicial District who preside over the majority of the felony criminal cases in Santa Fe, Rio Arriba and Los Alamos counties.
Carmack-Altwies declined to comment through a spokesperson. She won her second term in office Nov. 5 uncontested after winning a June Democratic primary race against her predecessor, attorney Marco Serna.
Biedscheid defended the districtās judges in an interview Thursday.
āI am aware that the DA has raised concerns about multiple judges in this district, and Iāve followed up on those concerns with both the judges and the Supreme Court, and I am very comfortable and confident that our judges have been applying the law properly in their cases and doing their jobs effectively,ā he said.
Impeding justice?
Documents in the online file for the Supreme Courtās order against Carmack-Altwies indicate the relationship between her and Sommer ā strained since the judgeās dismissal in July of the criminal case against actor Alec Baldwin ā has sunk to new depths. Sommer abruptly ended Baldwinās trial, saying she was dismissing his charge of involuntary manslaughter, tied to a high-profile film set shooting, on the basis that prosecutors had withheld evidence.
According to Biedscheid, the district attorneyās āpreemptory excusals,ā a legal term for removing a judge from a case without providing a reason, removed 75% of new active cases from Sommerās docket within a month.
Court rules allow either party to excuse one judge automatically for no reason, but also have provisions allowing chief judges to alert the state Supreme Court if a party appears to be using excusals āfor improper reasons or with a frequency that impedes the administration of justice.ā
Biedscheid cited that rule when he wrote to Thomson in early October, saying he wanted to bring the high courtās attention to āa significant and recent increase in preemptory excusalsā being filed by the District Attorneyās Office.
Between Sept. 5 and Oct. 2, the office filed 14 excusals, which removed 24 cases from Sommerās docket, Biedscheid wrote, noting some cases were joined.
āGiven their frequency and impact, these excusals have begun to impede the administration of justice by shifting such a high number of cases to the dockets of other judicial officers of the First Judicial District,ā he wrote.
He noted the excusals ācoincide with the issuance of critical press releases by the District Attorneyās Office concerning decisions made by Judge Marlowe Sommer.ā The letter included copies of news releases from the District Attorneyās Office criticizing Sommerās rulings.
One, issued Sept. 13, announced the office would be asking the judge to reconsider the release of a defendant in a sexual assault case; prosecutors accused the judge of treating the victimās family disrespectfully.
Another, published Sept. 19, questioned the judgeās dismissal of a case over a violation of rules on evidence sharing, known as discovery, arguing she hadnāt allowed the state to present its full proof in the case.
āUnchanged and uncheckedā
Carmack-Altwies responded to Biedscheidās letter Oct. 17 with her own letter to Thomson, arguing Biedscheid āmisunderstands the larger reality of practicing lawā in front of Sommer. She also said his perception put āthe courtās administrative process over the public employerās obligation to protect its employees from harassment or abusive conduct.ā
āTo be clear,ā she wrote, her office wasnāt excusing Sommer because of a ruling that had gone against her office but rather because of Sommerās āconduct and poor treatment of others.ā
These issues arenāt new, Carmack-Altwies wrote in her letter. She cited the Judicial Performance Evaluation Com°®¶¹appās 2020 evaluation of Sommer, which stated attorneys gave her ālow ratings for not always treating all participants equally ā¦ and not always displaying fairness and impartiality towards each side of the case,ā and ālow ratings when it comes to being courteous to all participants and demonstrating appropriate demeanor on the bench.ā
āFour years later, these issues continue and [Sommerās] conduct remains unchanged and unchecked,ā Carmack-Altwies wrote.
The same day Biedscheid sent his letter to the state Supreme Court, she wrote, another judge filed a disciplinary complaint against her and one of her prosecutors, attaching the same media releases cited by Biedscheid. She viewed this as retaliation, she wrote.
Carmack-Altwies attached seven unsigned letters to her communication with the court, which she said were āanonymous lettersā from attorneys ā and one local law enforcement officer ā who regularly practice in the First Judicial District. They describe Sommerās behavior on the bench as unprofessional and unpredictable.
āWhen she is at her best, Judge Marlowe Sommer has shown that she can be responsive, insightful, fair, and personable as she runs a busy criminal docket,ā one letter says. āDuring such times, it is a pleasure to appear in her court.ā
However, it adds, āAt her worst, Judge Marlowe Sommer engages in weekslong displays of irritability and foul temper.ā
The letter alleges the writer has seen the judge, āwith no known provocation, belittle witnesses, individuals in the gallery, court staff, defendants, and attorneys. During such times, Judge Marlowe Sommer is quick to misinterpret responses to court questions as insults, prompting her to redouble her misconduct.ā
It was unclear Thursday whether the Supreme Court intends to place a monitor in Sommerās courtroom.
Administrative Office of the Courts spokesperson Barry Massey confirmed in an email the judiciary āhas received a letter from the district attorney and is aware of her request for a court monitor.ā
