Opinion ID: 2640090
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: The DWI Case

Text: {29} This matter arose shortly after Judge Rodella was appointed to the magistrate court in April 2005. The Commission found the following facts. On July 4, 2005, a resident of Rio Arriba County was arrested for DWI and taken to the jail in Tierra Amarilla. Because the defendant's son knew Judge Rodella, as both were members of the same religious organization, the son called Judge Rodella for help in obtaining his father's release. Before the defendant had been booked into the jail, Judge Rodella had several contacts with the defendant's family and called the jail, setting a $500 bond. Throughout the evening, Judge Rodella made at least ten phone calls, either to the jail or the defendant's family, concerning the defendant's arrest, and attempted to obtain his release from custody. When no one was available to accept the bond, Judge Rodella changed his release order to release the defendant to the custody of his wife. At approximately 10:00 p.m., Judge Rodella got out of bed and drove from Española to Tierra Amarilla and hand-delivered a release order. Judge Rodella also set and presided over the defendant's arraignment. Judge Rodella subsequently recused in the case after news articles reported on the matter, and he resigned his position as magistrate shortly afterwards. {30} Based on these findings, the Commission concluded that Judge Rodella abused his power and improperly involved himself in the DWI case. More specifically, the Commission concluded that by embroiling himself with the case of someone with whom his impartiality might reasonably be questioned, Judge Rodella violated the following provisions of the Code of Judicial Conduct: Rule 21-100 (requiring a judge to uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary); Rule 21-200(A) (requiring a judge to avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety and to act in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary); Rule 21-200(B) (prohibiting a judge from allowing family, social, or political relationships to influence the judge's conduct and judgment); and Rule 21-400(A)(1) (requiring a judge to recuse when the judge has a personal bias concerning a party or personal knowledge of disputed evidentiary facts concerning the proceeding). These violations, the Commission concluded, constituted willful misconduct. {31} While the basic facts in this matter are not disputed, a majority of the members of this Court concludes that the Commission's determination that Judge Rodella's actions constituted willful misconduct in office is not supported by clear and convincing evidence. First, Judge Rodella's actions in assuring that the defendant had access to bail and in setting bond, even though the bond set deviated from a bond schedule set by the presiding judge, were within his authority as a judge. Second, the evidence indicates that the number of telephone calls Judge Rodella engaged in resulted, in part, from problems at the jail. The supervisor at the jail testified that he spoke to Judge Rodella about three times. The initial call was to find out what the charges were, and the other calls were related to bond issues. The first of the telephone conversations with the defendant's family occurred when the defendant's son called to report that his father had been arrested for DWI, and the subsequent calls were necessitated by confusion over the bond issues. Specifically, after Judge Rodella set bond, no one was available to accept the bond payment, and because no one was available to accept the bond payment, Judge Rodella drafted a release order so that the defendant could be released without bond. Judge Rodella tried to fax the release order to the jail, but because the fax machine at the jail was unavailable, he was told he had to hand deliver it. {32} Unlike other disciplinary cases in which this Court has determined a judge interfered in a case involving friends and family members, the treatment the defendant received in this case was not inappropriate. See, e.g., In re Ramirez, 2006-NMSC-021, ¶ 4, 139 N.M. 529, 135 P.3d 230 (per curiam) (describing how the judge showed his court identification to an officer issuing a citation to his son and his son's friends, used a volunteer bailiff to assist them in responding to a citation, and spoke to the judges assigned to the cases); In re Griego, 2008-NMSC-020, ¶ 3, 143 N.M. 698, 181 P.3d 690 (adjudicating traffic cases involving family members, friends, and family members of friends and staff, outside the presence of a representative of the state, and involving his staff in this conduct). Indeed, the evidence showed that Judge Rodella had also ordered the release of another defendant on the same day. {33} While we are troubled by Judge Rodella's failure to adhere to the bond schedule set by the presiding judge and by his actions in setting the defendant's arraignment before himself, the majority believes that while these actions demonstrate a lack of judgment, they do not constitute willful misconduct. This poor judgment, however, was not improved by training and mentoring and, instead, appears to have established a pattern of misconduct demonstrated in the willful misconduct in the subsequent cases.