Opinion ID: 2612728
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Issuance of Temporary Restraining Order.

Text: The Commission concedes that the appearance of Esteban Martinez before his father to seek a restraining order without compliance with the rules is not sufficient to constitute willful misconduct on the Judge's part. Thus, this issue is reduced to whether a district judge must enforce strict compliance with the rules as regards the allegations in a petition for a temporary restraining order or face removal from office. Asking the question goes far toward answering it. District judges issue dozens of temporary restraining orders in a year for sudden emergencies, on short notice, and under pressure. Mistakes made by attorneys in making applications for this relief, which are not noticed or corrected by the judges, do not automatically constitute unjudicial conduct. The showing must otherwise conform with the tests for willful misconduct set out herein. The record does not contain clear and convincing evidence that there was willful misconduct sufficient to sustain this charge. Mr. Olmsted, an attorney, acted by Commission order as chairman of the hearing on the Martinez charges. The Judge claims the proceedings are illegal because the New Mexico Constitution provides that the chairman of the Judicial Standards Commission shall be a lay person. N.M. Const. art. VI, section 32. Susan Dixon, a lay person, was the chairman of the Commission. We see no substance to this claim. Mr. Olmsted was not acting as chairman of the Commission. The chairman has numerous constitutional and statutory duties, which were not assigned to or performed by Mr. Olmsted. The total extent of his performance was to act as temporary presiding officer of the hearing. Judge Martinez charged that Mr. Olmstead's bias, while acting as chairman of the hearing, voided the proceedings. The record does not sustain the claim. There was no prejudice shown. We also reject the Judge's claim that the Commission was principally motivated by racial bias as being wholely unsupported by the evidence. We find no substance whatever to Judge Martinez's persistent claim that the Commission failed to charge him with willful misconduct. He states that the Commission charges were grounded solely on violations of the Canons of Judicial Ethics, see New Mexico Code of Judicial Conduct 1978 (Repl.Pamp. 1981), and that the Constitution does not provide for discipline or removal for such violations. The face of the documents setting forth the charges alleges willful misconduct and violations of the Canons. The Canons do not control the determination of the issues here. They only furnish some proof of what constitutes appropriate judicial conduct. Having determined that Judge Martinez is guilty of willful misconduct in office, we order that he is hereby suspended from his office of District Judge of the Fourth Judicial District for a period of sixty days, beginning on the date the mandate is issued in this case. He shall forfeit the salary of district judge in the gross amount of $8,216.66 and shall pay costs in the amount of $2,321.17 for a total of $10,537.83. He is prohibited from acting in his judicial capacity in any manner whatsoever during his suspension. IT IS SO ORDERED. FEDERICI, J., and LORENZO F. GARCIA, RUEBEN E. NIEVES and LOUIS E. DePAULI, District Judges, concur.