NM attorney general sues district court over pretrial release records
May 15—State Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed suit on Wednesday contending the administrator of the state District Court in Albuquerque is improperly denying access to public records on pretrial release of defendants pending trial.
"Public safety is the most important issue in our state and citizens have a right to know if pretrial services are an effective alternative to detention, especially when judges choose to release violent offenders over the objection of police and prosecutors," Torrez said in a statement. "No branch of government, not even the judicial branch, is allowed to operate without accountability... ."
Torrez's lawsuit is filed on behalf of two television news reporters who sought records pertaining to alerts and related information about the GPS devices worn by defendants who were released instead of jailed.
Court administrator Katina Watson denied the requests, citing confidentiality provided by state law.
For years, Torrez has been critical of the pretrial release supervision program in the 2nd Judicial District, and what he says is the lack of information about what happens when defendants on GPS monitors violate the conditions of their release.
The lawsuit sets the stage for a showdown over whether Watson is violating the state Inspection of Public Records Act by refusing to produce records showing the occurrence of violations of conditions of release and what occurred with each violation.
Watson, in a May 10 letter to Torrez forwarded to the Journal, wrote that the state law prohibits public release of such GPS data, except to law enforcement under certain circumstances.
"The legislature used the term 'data,' which is broad and encompasses any data released to GPS," Watson said.
The lawsuit filed by Torrez's office states that the 2nd Judicial District Court "took it upon itself to broadly construe" the law, and "its application of its own construction (of the law)" is erroneous.
The Legislature "exempted GPS location data from public inspection, but did not exempt alerts from GPS devices or documentation resulting in those alerts," the lawsuit states.
Torrez, whose office oversees public records and public meetings violations and enforcement, has previously cited testimony at a recent murder trial that showed now-convicted killer Devin Munford routinely violated court-ordered conditions and fatally shot a man in 2021 while on house arrest with a GPS monitor.
Torrez's office filed the lawsuit after television reporters Larry Barker, who works for KRQE News 13, and Ryan Laughlin, of KOB 4, filed separate IPRA requests related to pretrial services and GPS device violations.
Barker's request, for instance, sought "reports, emails, texts, call details, or any information including alerts related to GPS violations for crossing, entering or exiting inclusion and/or exclusion zones and/or tampering with GPS devices and/or system notification from the GPS devices."
The lawsuit states that Watson refused to provide either reporter with documents responsive to their requests. In her letter, she said some responsive documents were produced.
She contended in her letter that the Legislature "did not narrow the scope of GPS information that is protected or not protected, rather the Legislature used the term 'data' which is broad and encompasses any data related to GPS."
It wasn't clear what judge would preside over the lawsuit as of Wednesday afternoon.
