Joseph Guillory (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
When Gov. Bill Richardson appointed Joseph Guillory to the Doña Ana County Magistrate Court in 2006, he said Guillory’s “strong law enforcement background will serve him well.”
Guillory, a retired law-enforcement officer, is now serving a 60-day suspension without pay, which will be followed by a 12-month, supervised probationary period during which he will receive training in his “obligations and responsibilities” under the state’s Code of Judicial Conduct.
That disciplinary action, taken by the New Mexico Supreme Court earlier this month, comes because of a host of problems with the way Guillory has conducted himself at the court. Here are the details, according to a filing from state’s Judicial Standards Commission:
• Guillory “abused the contempt power” in two cases “by denying fair treatment to the defendants and holding the defendants in contempt without proper justification,” which the commission said “demonstrated a lack of proper judicial temperament and abuse of his judicial authority.”
• He also “failed, refused, or was unable to perform his judicial duties” – including a refusal to arraign defendants in at least four cases, a failure to properly sentence individuals in at least six cases, and a failure to complete arraignment forms correctly in at least six cases.
• Guillory “engaged in ex parte communications with litigants.” Specifically, he was visiting with litigants, officers and bail bondsmen during smoke breaks, discussing specific cases “outside and in front of the courthouse.”
• The judge also “regularly took short naps at his desk during the noon hour, within view of the court staff and the public,” and on one occasion, fell asleep “while three defendants were waiting for paperwork from his clerk.”
• While hearing one case in 2008, Guillory assisted an officer “in presenting his case.”
• Within earshot of the public, he voiced his “discontentment” with Presiding Magistrate Judge Oscar Frietze and referred to him “in a condescending manner.”
You can read the commission’s petition for discipline and the high court’s order here.
Commission: Guillory has ‘made a diligent effort’ to improve
There’s been a history of problems with some judges in Doña Ana County, but it’s been years since any judge from the county has been disciplined.
Guillory admitted to the misconduct in the commission’s filing with the Supreme Court and accepted the discipline the commission proposed and the court imposed. The filing states that there are “several mitigating factors that the Commission took into consideration,” including that Guillory “was under emotional stress” at the time of the problems because his wife was suffering from serious health problems, that Guillory’s “demeanor with the clerks and other judges has improved immensely,” and that he “has made a diligent effort to correct any inappropriate behavior.”
Guillory has no prior history of discipline by the Supreme Court.
Guillory’s suspension was first reported on by the Las Cruces Sun-News, which quoted Frietze as saying, “I’m sorry it happened like that, but we do have rules that we have to obey. We live in a glass house. We work in a glass house. We cannot do anything that we’d like to do just because we’d like to do those things. We’re bound by rules, to conform with those rules.”