Members of the media were not invited to the swearing in Tuesday of new Rio Arriba County Magistrate Court Judge Joe Madrid.
Court Clerk Sandra Martinez advised a SUN reporter Tuesday morning that the former State Police sergeant’s swearing in wouldn’t take place at the Española courthouse until Wednesday or Thursday. However, Tuesday afternoon, after a representative from Gov. Bill Richardson’s office confirmed the ceremony in fact was set to take place Tuesday, Martinez admitted Madrid had already been sworn in earlier in the day.
“That’s probably my fault,” Madrid said, explaining he did not want to be ambushed by members of the media at a ceremony attended by his family.
Madrid enters a post that has received extensive media coverage the last few years. Former judge Tommy Rodella, the man Madrid is replacing and a former State Police colleague, was plagued with bad publicity during both of his tenures as judge due to his rocky past and some questionable actions while on the bench. Rodella was finally removed from the bench in May after the state Supreme Court ruled he committed willful misconduct.
Madrid was appointed to the position in June by Governor Bill Richardson after being nominated by the County Democratic Party as its candidate for the Nov. 4 election. Madrid will receive an annual salary of $70,000 and will run unopposed for the four-year term. Republican nominee Cecelia Martinez Salazar dropped out of the race last month a week after she was notified she would have to run as a write-in candidate due to a error made by the Republican Party during the nomination process.
Madrid did agree to an interview Tuesday in his chambers with a Rio Arriba Magistrate Court clerk and a representative from the state Administrative Office of the Courts present. Madrid said his 21-year career with State Police will help him with the criminal cases, while getting up to speed on civil legal matters will take some studying. Madrid just completed a five-week judicial education course and is not scheduled to hear his first case within the next two weeks, Martinez said.
“The biggest obstacle that I have to get over is you guys, the media,” Madrid said of the challenges he anticipates in his new position.
While Madrid is well-respected in local law enforcement circles, he has faced questions from the media about several civil lawsuits that were filed against him during his career. He referred all questions about the suits to the state Department of Public Safety.
“Folks have to understand, I’m pretty thick-skinned, but some of the other people who were affected by these things over the last 20 years are still alive, and might be hurt by it,” Madrid said.
The Department settled one civil rights action in 1992 for $42,500, paid to plaintiff John Ortiz, who claimed Madrid broke his wrist outside Blue Spruce Bar in Abiquiú in 1988, court documents state.
According to the complaint filed in federal District Court, Madrid and another officer asked Ortiz to step outside the bar and offered him his hand. Ortiz’s complaint states: “Defendant Madrid violently jerked Plaintiff outside the bar, threw him to the ground, breaking his left wrist and smashing Plaintiff’s face on the asphalt surface of the bar entryway, cutting and bruising it and injuring his jaw.”
A 1989 traffic stop also led to the Department paying a cash settlement to Benny Aguino, who claimed that after pulling him over in Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo, Madrid kicked him in the ribs and face, causing broken blood vessels in his eye, court documents state.
Aguino’s attorney, Ann Berkley Rogers, said Tuesday she could not remember the amount of the settlement reached during arbitration, except that it was “more than nuisance value.”
Another lawsuit, settled for $5,000, stemmed from allegations made by Jimmy Viarreal that Madrid and State Police Sgt. Chris Valdez used excessive force in removing him from his vehicle in 1993. Viarreal claimed Valdez and Madrid hit him with their fists and “caused further pain by lifting Plaintiff’s hands behind him and hitting him more times.”
Valdez said Tuesday he and Madrid used only necessary force to remove Viarreal from the truck, adding that in the 20 years he has known Madrid, he had never seen him use excessive force.
“Nothing happened to (Viarreal), otherwise how come they would settle for $5,000, a nuisance amount?” Valdez said.
In the most recent lawsuit, Isaac Montano Jr. complained that Madrid and other officers detained him on suspicion of burglary in 2004 and injured him to the point that he was physically sick, at which point they allegedly put his vomit-filled jacket on his head while he was handcuffed in a holding cell, the complaint states. The case was also settled for $5,000, documents state.
Meanwhile, Montano Jr. is currently being held at Roosevelt County Detention Center on charges of robbing and murdering Don Chapman, 69, last month in Portales, according to the Portales Police Department.
“The whole time I was in State Police, no one brought this stuff up,” Madrid said Tuesday. “As soon as I took this position, every rat and worm gets brought out.”
Madrid went on to say, “The biggest concern I have is to be fair with the people.”