New rules for criminal cases in Rio Arriba, Santa Fe and Los Alamos counties aim to speed up their resolution, unless they are deemed to be very complex.
The new rules will apply to criminal cases filed in District Court starting on Jan. 1. They were approved on July 9.
Judges will hear arguments from both sides on how simple, or how complex, each case is, then assign it to one of three categories, from simplest to most complex, according to the new rules.
The new deadlines for criminal cases have “the simplest cases” going to trial within 210 days, or seven months, of the person being arraigned.
More complex cases are supposed to go to trial within 300 days, or
10 months.
“There is no fixed time limit for trial for cases of ‘unusually high complexity’ — those with a high number of witnesses or a great amount of scientific evidence,” Administrative Office of the Courts Spokesman Barry Massey wrote in a press release about the new rules, which the Supreme Court has deemed a “pilot program.”
The district courts in Bernalillo, Doña Ana, Taos, Union and Colfax counties have similar time limits for cases.
However, their rules have the most complex cases going to trial within 15 months.
In the rest of the state, there are no specific time limits for cases, although defense attorneys can, and sometimes do, bring speedy trial motions to have cases dismissed that have been languishing for years, especially when their clients have been held without bail.
During a press conference, First Judicial District Chief Justice Bryan Biedscheid, in charge of the courts in Rio Arriba, Santa Fe and Los Alamos counties, said he asked the Supreme Court for the rules two years ago to increase efficiency and create uniform deadlines. More cases could be dismissed if cases don’t go to trial by the deadlines, according to media reports.
While the rules were modeled on those in Taos County, requirements are for the most complex cases go to trial within 15 months.
“By implementing the case management rule in 2026, law enforcement, prosecutors, defense attorneys will have additional time — as suggested in comments about the proposed rule — to prepare for the new procedural deadlines for moving criminal cases forward,” Biedscheid wrote in the press release.
Reason for Change
Cases are taking longer in the First Judicial District than elsewhere in the state, 42% higher than the statewide average, Massey wrote.
Cases are taking 280 days compared to the state average of 197 days.
How the new rules will work in practice is unknown until the new deadlines approach in July 2026. Most cases in Rio Arriba County are assigned to a single judge and a trial, usually lasting a few days to a few weeks and can put a major damper on the whole criminal docket, as the judge overseeing most criminal cases in the county is mostly indisposed during the trial, in addition to the prosecutor and in many instances, one of the public defenders working in the county.
In an email, First Judicial District Attorney’s Office Spokeswoman Catherine Lynch wrote that the first impression is that the Supreme Court was going to implement new deadlines in the First Judicial District and it was a question of when, not if, and worked with the public defender’s office to propose “changes consistent with criminal justice practice in this district.”
The new time limits mean the District Attorney’s Office needs more staff, and it made a request for 13 new hires to the legislature, which was denied.
“The legislature ignored our budget request, and when we were not funded, we hoped that the Supreme Court would delay implementation,” Lynch wrote. “Obviously, the Supreme Court did not delay the CMO, and we are forced to adapt with an inadequate status quo.”
The District Attorney’s Office is “very concerned” about not having enough funding and resources to meet the time mandates and it will “adversely impact public safety and our public safety partners.”
“However, we have no choice, and we will continue with our efforts to reorganize the office, prioritize violent crime, and do our best to meet these unfunded mandates,” she wrote.
In an August 2024 letter to the courts, District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies wrote that the promised collaboration and outreach by the courts was never done, including no outreach to stakeholders, like the head of the New Mexico State Police crime lab.
“Referring to the transition period as ‘difficult’ is a gross understatement,” she wrote. “‘Difficult’ does not accurately capture the reality of what the Second and Third Judicial District Attorney’s offices and their law enforcement partners faced when similar CMOs were forced upon them in their respective districts.”
New Rules
The new criminal case rules include:
• Submitting a certification that all the evidence that needs to be tested has been sent out for testing within 15 days of the arraignment.
• File a witness list within 25 days of arraignment
• Cases with someone being held in jail will be given “the highest priority” for scheduling.
• If a case is to be labeled “complex” and will not be subject to the new rules, which is described as a “rare circumstance,” a judge has to make “written and specific findings” within five days of the assignment. These cases must have “unusually high complexity due to, for instance, a high number of witnesses or a substantial 2 amount of scientific evidence.”
• Judges can push out trials 30 days for simple cases and 45 days for the slightly more complex cases.
• Witness interviews, which are depositions in criminal cases, in simple cases need to happen, at the latest, 60 days from trial
• Witness interviews in the middle-tier cases need to happen at the latest 75 days before trial.