Dec. 19—State District Judge Francis Mathew has been accused of driving drunk in Santa Fe, a criminal charge he plans to dispute.
Mathew, 72, was on the bench Thursday, presiding over cases, in spite of the charge he was handed Dec. 13. He declined to comment directly on the count, but an attorney representing him said the judge plans to fight the case and “is not guilty of DWI.”
A criminal complaint filed Monday in Santa Fe County Magistrate Court by New Mexico State Police says Mathew faces a petty misdemeanor of driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor.
He was stopped at a state police DWI checkpoint the evening of Dec. 13 and failed several field sobriety tests, an officer wrote in a statement of probable cause filed with the charge.
The officer wrote he determined Mathew was “unable to continue driving a motor vehicle safely,” although the judge’s blood-alcohol level was under the legal limit for driving, according to two breath tests taken at a state police station in Santa Fe about an hour after the stop. Mathew was released from custody rather than jailed, but police still filed the charge.
Mathew’s defense attorney, Ben Ortega, said Thursday he would be disputing the charge and noted the judge’s alcohol level, as measured by police, was well below the driving limit.
“Judge Mathew cooperated completely with law enforcement,” Ortega said. “He submitted to a breath test, did everything you’re supposed to do, by the book. And when we go to court for this — if we have to go to court — I fully expect him to be exonerated.”
Mathew has continued presiding over cases in his state district courtroom in Santa Fe since the charge was filed Monday. He could be seen at the downtown courthouse Thursday holding hearings.
It was not clear if court officials were aware of Mathew’s drunken driving charge when they were asked for comment on his status as a judge.
First Judicial District Chief Judge Bryan Biedscheid responded to an inquiry Thursday saying, “I need to learn more about this.”
Administrative Office of the Courts spokesperson Barry Massey wrote in a statement judges, including chief judges, “are not able to comment on pending or potential court cases.”
“The ethics of Judge Mathew’s conduct is a matter for the Judicial Standards Commission, which is an independent body that investigates disciplinary matters,” Massey wrote. “Judge Mathew presides over civil cases. The First Judicial District Court will ensure that all cases are heard in a timely fashion pending a resolution of this matter.”
When asked whether Mathew would be allowed to preside over cases while a disciplinary case is pending, Massey wrote, “I am not able to address that issue at this time.”
Mathew pulled up to the state police checkpoint on Old Pecos Trail, near Arroyo Chamiso Road, at 6:42 p.m. Dec. 13, police wrote in the statement of probable cause. He was driving a gray Acura SUV. After he was asked if he had any alcohol to drink, he told the officer he had “a glass of wine and a cocktail with dinner” about an hour earlier, the affidavit states.
The officer administered two standardized field sobriety tests and two “alternative” tests, the statement says, and Mathew “performed poorly.” Mathew was then arrested and taken to a state police office for a breath test for blood alcohol.
His blood alcohol level registered at 0.05% and then 0.04% — under the state’s limit of 0.08% for adult drivers.
Police noted Mathew was given a “deprivation period” of longer than 20 minutes before the breath tests took place. State police Sgt. Ricardo Breceda said the period is a standard procedure that begins “after the officer has visually inspected the inside of the arrestee’s mouth.”
“During this period, the person providing the breath samples may not eat, drink, smoke, or place any other foreign object in their mouth,” Breceda wrote in an email Thursday. “This is done so that the breathalyzer accurately reads the person’s breath alcohol content.”
The probable cause for the charge against Mathew was his “poor” performance on the sobriety tests, but the judge was released from the station “because his breath samples were below the legal limit of .08,” Breceda wrote.
Ortega, who said he has been a DWI lawyer for 15 years, argued there was no evidence of “impaired driving” in Mathew’s case.
The judge was administered a “finger dexterity test” and a “numerical countdown” test, the attorney said, which he described as “nonstandardized tests that have not been validated.”
“It’s not fair to judge anyone by these nonstandardized tests, particularly somebody that is over age 65,” he added.
“Judge Mathew has the same rights as everyone, and whenever I represent somebody like a police officer or a judge, I have to be careful that their rights are respected,” Ortega said.
He added, “I will not permit him to make a statement at this time. He’s charged with a criminal offense, and from the evidence that I can see in all my 15 years experience, he is not guilty of that offense. The time and place for him to make a statement regarding the criminal allegations, if and when he does, will be in court.”
Mathew was first sworn in as a judge in the First Judicial District Court in 2013 after being appointed by former Gov. Susana Martinez. He was elected to the bench the following year and has presided largely over civil cases.
He has presided over several high-profile cases, including one against Cowboys for Trump founder and former Otero County Commissioner Cuoy Griffin and a drunken driving case against former state Sen. Richard Martinez.