McKinley County DA hires 11 staff, clears 120 cases in five months

McKinley County District Attorney John Bernitz has hired 11 staff members since his April 2026 appointment, including four full-time assistant prosecutors, clearing roughly 120 cases over five months. Bernitz took over an office with 17 vacant positions after Governor Ann Pierret appointed him to fill the seat vacated by former DA Bernadine Martin, who resigned in February rather than face trial on misconduct allegations. The state Disciplinary Board later suspended Martin’s law license for six months.

The caseload reduction has moved the office from roughly 800 criminal cases to about 680, split between Bernitz and the four assistant prosecutors. “Based on that, we were able to reduce the caseload for us and the courts and the public defenders by 120 cases,” Bernitz said.

The office still receives 20 to 30 new referrals a week and continues to work through old cases Martin is accused of never filing, improperly dismissing, or ignoring. Boxes of cases were found in Martin’s office following her resignation. “I would say there’s 40 or 50 or 60 of those cases that we’re still looking at,” Bernitz said. “We’ve pulled out all the sex crimes and the murder cases.”

The office has filed charges in four murder cases. A contract attorney focuses on those and eight other outstanding murder cases. Some sex crime victims have declined to move forward.

“It’s hard to explain to somebody that maybe that the case should, it could have gone forward if somebody did something with it three or four years ago and now it can’t,” Bernitz said. “And they’re not really interested in excuses.”

Sheriff James Maiorano III said victims still come forward asking about dismissed cases “maybe once every other week.” Asked how many victims may never see their day in court, the sheriff said: “I don’t think we have a good grasp of it.”

Gallup Police Chief Erin Toadlena-Pablo said the heartache from unprosecuted cases “is a big impact on everybody.” Both the chief and the sheriff agreed Bernitz has helped turn the judicial system around in five months.

“Previously we were doing a job that wasn’t ours, trying to track cases, make sure things made it to court, make sure criminal complaints were in order,” the sheriff said. “We no longer have to do that anymore.”

Toadlena-Pablo said simple communication has resumed. “Even just to call him and for him to pick up the phone, you know, that’s something that I think our department really missed,” she said.

The sheriff noted that staff have begun attending command meetings at the sheriff’s office and that the DA’s office is now giving attention to pretrial detention hearings. “People that need to go to jail are going to jail,” he said. “And so that’s also sending a community message to say, if you’re going to commit a crime, they’re back. You know, this is not going to get washed under the rug.”

The New Mexico Department of Justice took on 53 cases to assist the McKinley County DA’s Office. At least four went to trial, and all resulted in convictions, according to NMDOJ Chief of Criminal Affairs John Duran. With the office staffed, NMDOJ returned 13 cases.

One returned case involves Gallup Police Chief Erin Toadlena-Pablo’s case against Tyson Long. Martin had dropped murder charges against Long three years ago for an unnamed conflict. “For it to be in the courts and then for us to receive subpoenas for that, I think it’s like a sigh of relief,” Toadlena-Pablo said.

Bernitz is still working to hire four more assistant prosecutors. Once he can hand off his court docket, he plans to start a drug court and get the pre-prosecution diversion program running.

The Law Office of the Public Defender has also recovered. The office was budgeted for seven attorneys in Gallup but had just one when Martin resigned. It now has four attorneys.

New Mexico Chief Public Defender Ben Baur said in a statement: “We are encouraged at the changes we are seeing at the DA’s Office in Gallup. Communication between DAs and defense attorneys has improved. They are handling evidence and court deadlines more effectively. That in turn gives us more time to meet with clients and work our cases. And a more effective court system is better for the community. Thanks in part to these changes and to our intensive recruiting efforts, our attorney ranks are finally growing in Gallup. But we continue to face the same struggles with recruitment and workloads as we do in many of our rural offices.”

The Gallup City Council voted to file a complaint with the Disciplinary Board over Martin’s law license, separate from the complaint that led to her current suspension.