McKinley County DA fills 11 positions, cuts caseload by 120 cases

McKinley County District Attorney John Bernitz has filled 11 vacant positions since his appointment in April, reducing the office’s criminal caseload by 120 cases. The hirings marked a major step toward stabilizing an office that had collapsed under his predecessor.

“It’s been real good. I’ve been real fortunate,” Bernitz said. “We got a lot of staff that used to work here, all came back.”

When Bernitz took the position, the office had 17 vacant positions. He filled 11 of those, adding four full-time assistant prosecutors. “Based on that, we were able to reduce the caseload for us and the courts and the public defenders by 120 cases,” he said.

A year ago, the office had more than 800 criminal cases on its plate and one prosecutor, then-DA Bernadine Martin. Now the caseload stands at about 680 cases divided between Bernitz and four assistant prosecutors. “We’re starting to come back. We have a little bit further to go,” Bernitz said.

Those cases include new criminal referrals, at about 20 to 30 a week, plus old cases Martin is accused of never filing, improperly dismissing or ignoring. KRQE Investigates previously found cases stored in boxes in Martin’s office after she resigned.

“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. And we’re still slowly resolving some of the, the other lesser, lesser crimes.”

The office filed charges in four of the murders. A contract attorney focuses solely on prosecuting those and eight other outstanding murder cases. Sex crimes proved more difficult, with some victims deciding not to move forward in court.

“It’ hard to explain to somebody that maybe that the case should – it, it could have gone forward if it was, if somebody did something with it 3 or 4 years ago and now it can’t. And they’re not really interested in excuses,” Bernitz said.

McKinley County Sheriff James Maiorano III said the office does not yet know how many victims will never see their day in court. “I don’t think we have a good grasp of it,” he said.

“Yeah, it’s a lot to think about. It’s a lot to process. I don’t think we truly understand how bad that problem was,” the Sheriff said.

Gallup Police Chief Erin Toadlena-Pablo said the impact has rippled through the community. “I think the heartache in that and, and within our community – that, it’s a big impact on everybody,” she said.

Both the Chief and Sheriff said Bernitz has helped turn the county’s judicial system around in just 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, and then talking with the victims to see if have you been called or are you going to testify as a witness? We no longer have to do that anymore,” the Sheriff said.

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

The Sheriff pointed out that the DA’s Office now gives time and attention to pretrial detention hearings. “People that need to go to jail are going to jail,” the Sheriff 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 under the rug.”

Bernitz is still working to hire four more assistant prosecutors. Once he can hand off his court docket, he said, he will be able to focus on managing the office, start a drug court in the county and get the pre-prosecution diversion program running.

The Law Office of the Public Defender has also seen improvement. The office is budgeted for seven attorneys in Gallup. When Martin resigned in February, the LOPD said it had one attorney. It now has four.

New Mexico’s 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 New Mexico Department of Justice took on 53 cases to assist the McKinley County DA’s Office while staffing lagged, according to NMDOJ Chief of Criminal Affairs John Duran. At least four went to trial, he said. “We got convictions on those. So, I’m very happy with our group.”

With the DA’s Office staffed again, the NMDOJ returned 13 cases. One is the Gallup Police Department’s case against Tyson Long, in which Martin dropped murder charges three years ago for an unnamed conflict. Chief Toadlena-Pablo said the case is finally moving forward again. “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,” she said.

Chief Toadlena-Pablo said the Gallup City Council voted to file a complaint with the state’s Disciplinary Board against Martin’s law license. Martin’s current suspension stems from a separate complaint. It is unclear what impact this new complaint could have on Martin’s career.

The Chief said it will take time to fully regain trust. “I think this community is resilient and it is going to heal,” she said. “And the only way that’s going to happen is for everyone to lean on one another and to have that support. But yeah, it’s rebuilding.”