Stapleton seeks enlarged jury pool for August trial - Olivier Uyttebrouck, Albuquerque Journal
Attorneys for former state House majority leader Sheryl Williams Stapleton are asking a federal judge to impanel 200 prospective jurors — about three times the usual number — for her trial in August because of the "intense, consistent media attention” the case has received.
Defense attorneys also are asking the judge to approve an expanded jury questionnaire that seeks detailed information from prospective jurors about their familiarity with Stapleton's criminal case and opinions they may have about her service as a state lawmaker.
One question in the proposed questionnaire asks: "How concerned are you about the possibility of politically motivated prosecutions by the U.S. Department of Justice?"
Jury selection is scheduled to begin Aug. 3 in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque before District Judge James O. Browning.
The special questionnaire would "save time, mitigate the risk of unfair prejudice, and avoid the unnecessary embarrassment of prospective jurors," defense attorneys argued in a motion filed April 1. "Because of the type of charges, it is also anticipated that many jurors will not be able to remain fair and impartial."
Federal prosecutors have indicated that they oppose the motion, it said. The U.S. Attorney's Office had not filed a response as of Wednesday.
Stapleton's attorney, Ahmad Assed, said Wednesday he could say little about the proposed special jury questionnaire beyond arguments cited in the motion.
"It's a case that's pending and before a federal district court judge and we are very restricted to what we can say relative to an ongoing case," Assed said.
Stapleton, a former Albuquerque Public Schools official, was indicted by a federal grand jury in March 2024 on 35 criminal counts, including allegations of bribery, mail fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
The indictment also names Joseph Johnson, a Virginia businessman and owner of Washington, D.C.-based Robotics Management Learning Systems LLC, who is described in the indictment as a close friend of Stapleton's. Both will be tried together.
The indictment alleges Stapleton used her position at APS to direct funding to Robotics for the use of the company's software in district classrooms. She then allegedly directed $1,152,506 from Robotics' checking account into accounts she controlled using blank checks provided by Robotics, the indictment alleges.
The alleged violations took place from July 2013 to June 2020. An Albuquerque Democrat, Stapleton represented District 19, east of the University of New Mexico, from 1994 to 2021. She resigned from the House two days after search warrants were served at her home in July 2021 and was fired by APS the following month.
Proposed ‘special jury questionnaire’
The motion asks the judge to impanel 200 prospective jurors "unlike the run of the mill felony case where 50-70 jurors might be sufficient to account for jurors who cannot be impartial," defense attorneys argued.
The high-profile case also calls for a more detailed "special jury questionnaire" that probes jurors' knowledge of the allegations, voting habits and opinions about the state Legislature and elected leaders generally.
"The allegations of bribery, fraud, and money laundering, and high-profile nature of the case will raise significant emotions in jurors and require delving into matters that may be very sensitive and private," attorneys argued.
Prospective jurors are typically asked to fill out a questionnaire that contains 20 questions that seeks personal information such as ethnicity and gender, employment, marital status and children, political party affiliation and participation in religious and civic organizations.
The proposed special jury questionnaire lists 29 questions that seek more detailed information, including familiarity with Stapleton, her political career, and media coverage about the criminal case.
Proposed questions ask if jurors "regularly use social media," whether they are registered to vote, how often they vote and whether they ever voted for Stapleton or an opponent. It also asks for "your general opinion of the New Mexico State Legislature and the elected representatives who serve there."
Many of the questions include blank spaces where prospective jurors can provide a written explanation.
"The proposed questionnaire will help streamline this process and limit the number of questions that need to be asked of each juror" during jury selection, attorneys argued.
Judge rejects plea agreement in case of missing Navajo elder Ella Mae Begay - By Savannah Peters and Jacques Billeaud, Associated Press
A federal judge in Phoenix has rejected a plea agreement that would have allowed a man who admitted to beating a Navajo elder and leaving her for dead to avoid more prison time.
Preston Henry Tolth, 26, now will face trial on charges of carjacking and assault in relation to the 2021 disappearance of Ella Mae Begay. A trial date hasn't been set.
Under the agreement, Tolth would have been released on a sentence of three years of time served in exchange for acknowledging his role in the crime and pleading guilty to a single count of robbery.
Known as a gifted weaver of pictorial rugs, Ella Mae Begay was 62 years-old when she vanished from Sweetwater, Arizona, the small community on the northern part of the Navajo Nation where she was raised and later brought up her own three children.
Begay's disappearance received national media attention and helped highlight the broader crisis of Indigenous people who go missing or are killed at disproportionate rates. Nearly five years after she disappeared, Begay has not been found.
The rare decision to reject a plea agreement followed anguished testimony from Begay's family members who told the court Tolth should not walk free without revealing Begay's location.
Seraphine Warren described her aunt as a warm and sweet person who opted for "hugs instead of handshakes," and implored the judge not to "give up on her" by accepting a plea agreement that Warren said offered no justice to the grieving family.
"Accountability is not time served," Warren told the judge tearfully. "It's about truth, and we still don't have the truth."
Gerald Begay, Ella Mae's son, said, "I feel like the justice system has failed me."
Tolth, whose father was dating Begay's sister, was identified as a person of interest within days of Begay's disappearance. He initially denied involvement but in a later interrogation, confessed to stealing Begay's truck with her in it, punching her repeatedly and leaving her on the side of the road.
Tolth was set to face trial in 2024, but a federal judge dealt prosecutors a major blow by ruling his confession inadmissible, saying Tolth had been unlawfully coerced by an FBI agent who lied about evidence that law enforcement had against him after Tolth had invoked his right to remain silent.
The U.S. Attorney's office for Arizona and Tolth's public defenders declined to comment on the judge's rejection of the plea agreement.
Tolth did not speak at Thursday's hearing. His attorney asked the judge to consider his unstable childhood and history of homelessness and substance abuse, calling his three years in federal custody a reasonable sentence.
A federal prosecutor said the suppression of Tolth's confession weakened the government's case and that the plea agreement would provide Begay's family with more certainty and finality than a trial with sparse evidence. Begay's family members disagree.
"We want to see this go to trial because we have nothing to lose," Warren said. "If we lose, at least we fought."
At Las Cruces school, mixed reaction to removing Chavez's name - Algernon D’Ammassa, Albuquerque Journal
Reaction was swift last month after a bombshell New York Times report in which three women, including New Mexico’s Dolores Huerta, came forward with allegations that revered labor leader César Chavez sexually assaulted women and young girls in the 1960s and ’70s.
Santa Fe Public Schools immediately removed Chavez’s name from an elementary school named for him. Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller announced moves to rename streets and public buildings. Federal and state leaders in New Mexico issued statements calling for immediate action to rebrand public entities memorializing the civil rights icon and co-founder of the United Farm Workers.
Ahead of any steps to remove his name from César Chávez Elementary, the Las Cruces Public Schools board has solicited public input. So far, reaction has been mixed.
On Wednesday, the school board held a public meeting at the school to hear comments on the issue and also invited the community to submit written responses to the district. School board President Pamela Cort indicated there could be another public session, and the district said written comments are still welcome.
The gathering drew a small crowd and nine speakers, including educators, school families and members of the community. Six opposed changing the name, three supported it and a few suggested that if any change occurs, the school should not be named after a person.
“Why is Las Cruces considering erasing the name of a school that honors a Mexican-American icon, a man who fought for American farmworkers’ rights?” asked Juan Garcia, the leader of a local conservative group.
High school teacher Gail Wheeler said the question had quickly become “a ridiculously political issue” while arguing a change would model leadership for young people attending Las Cruces’ public schools. Among her own students, she said, “Teenagers think this is kind of a stupid idea … but they want the adults in their life to do the thing that is right.”
A few longtime teachers at the school criticized spending money on a possible rebrand — estimated by Superintendent Ignacio Ruiz last month at between $12,000 and $15,000 — when the site is in need of new playground equipment, roof repairs and other investments.
Several asked questions about what meaningful role the public would play in the decision, after a majority of school board members signaled at a meeting last month that they favored changing the school’s name.
The school district shared 16 written comments with the Journal that were submitted by email ahead of Thursday’s meeting. Support for removing the name in the emailed comments was strong, with 13 in favor of renaming the school, one opposed, and two that did not take a position but raised concerns about the expense or the wisdom of naming schools after people. Among the supporters were employees of LCPS, including staff of the school.
In person and in writing, several commenters made suggestions for new names, although under school district policy, the process of considering a name and gathering public input would not begin before the board takes action to remove the current name. It is not yet clear if that decision will be on the agenda for the board’s regular meeting later in April.
Nearly six years have passed since LCPS rebranded one of its schools, when it stripped the name of Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate y Salazar from Oñate High School and ultimately selected Organ Mountain as the school’s new name.
Board member Teresa Tenorio, who was new to the board when it voted in July 2020, has since called that process “rushed.” At the board’s last meeting, Tenorio requested a slower and more informative process before the current board takes any action concerning Chávez Elementary.
New Mexico Attorney General to propose mandated child safety protections in Meta bench trial - Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico
A New Mexico judge denied Meta’s request to postpone a bench trial in New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez’s ongoing case against the social media giant. In an announcement Thursday, Torrez said the decision paves the way for “the most comprehensive court-ordered child safety protections ever imposed on a social media company.”
A Santa Fe jury already found Meta to have committed 75,000 violations of state law and ordered the company to pay the state $375 million in damages. Torrez’s New Mexico Department of Justice filed the lawsuit in 2023 and accused Meta — which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp — of violating the state’s Unfair Practices Act and misleading the public about the mental health risks and sexual exploitation facing teen users.
Company representatives have said they plan to appeal the verdict.
First Judicial District Judge Bryan Biedscheid is set to hear the state’s public nuisance claim on May 4 and will weigh how Meta can mitigate the practices a jury found to violate state law, the New Mexico Department of Justice announced Thursday.
“Meta has spent years dodging responsibility for the damage its platforms cause to children,” Torrez said in a statement. “They failed to get this case thrown out. They lost at trial. Now the court has told them they cannot run from what comes next. On May 4, we will seek the strongest child safety protections ever proposed against a social media company — and we will ask this court to order Meta to comply.”
In a statement, the NMDOJ wrote that it will seek an injunction to “fundamentally restructure how Meta operates for children.” In addition to banning “addictive” features such as infinite scrolling, autoplay and push notifications during school and sleep hours, Torrez’s department announced it would also seek to set a monthly cap of 90 hours of Meta platform access for New Mexico kids.
Under the NMDOJ proposal, the number of likes and shares on posts would not display for minor users. Children’s accounts would be private by default and would require an associated guardian account. Meta would also need to implement a “99% detection rate” for posted child sexual abuse material.
Torrez’s proposal would also require Meta to pay for a court-appointed child safety monitor to oversee compliance, vet complaints and publish public reports on the matter.
Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
New Mexico officials, tribal leaders vow to oppose slate of federal actions on public lands - Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
In a virtual call with news media on Thursday, New Mexico officials, tribal leaders and advocates said they will mount resistance against a cascade of Trump administration proposals to mine and extract oil and gas on federal public lands within the state.
In the last several weeks alone, federal officials began moves to end a ban on oil and gas drilling around Chaco Culture National Historical Park, and announced a reversal on a mining ban in the Upper Pecos headwaters.
Leger Fernández, along with U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján, also wrote a letter on Thursday to Carson National Forest officials opposing a Canadian company’s proposal to mine for uranium near Canjilon, and requesting any federal review be postponed pending legislation to protect the Chama watershed from mineral extraction.
The push for drilling and mining in New Mexico follows President Donald Trump’s exhortation in his second term to expand domestic mineral production.
“It’s an attack on our heritage, it’s an attack on the relationship that New Mexicans have with this land,” U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-NM), who represents New Mexico’s 3rd Congressional District, said about the recent federal actions.
During Thursday’s call, Leger Fernández committed to “keep fighting and use every tool we have” and urged additional public participation.
“Sometimes we win, sometimes we don’t, but we need to keep fighting,” Leger Fernández said.
To that end, Acoma Gov. Charles Riley said that the pueblo submitted more than 400 public comments in opposition to ending an oil-and-gas drilling ban near Chaco Canyon, and young people went door-to-door to help older and more rural residents submit comments online.
“That level of engagement reflects something very important,” Riley said. ”Chaco is not an abstract policy issue for us. It is a living cultural landscape that is central to who we are as pueblo people.”
However, Riley noted, “it should not take extraordinary measures by a tribal community to make a federal process accessible.”
Numerous Indigenous and conservation groups decried the seven-day comment period, which transpired over a period that included both Easter and several Tribal feast days.
“If the Department of Interior is going to make a decision of this magnitude, it must be based on a process that is fair, transparent, and genuinely inclusive of tribal voices,” Riley said.
In a statement provided to Source, a Department of Interior spokesperson said the Bureau of Land Management is preparing an environmental assessment on the proposed revocation of the drilling ban around Chaco that will include “two distinct opportunities for public input.” The seven-day “scoping” period, the statement says, “allows the public to help identify the issues, data needs, and alternatives that should be considered as the assessment is developed.” An additional 14-day comment period “will provide the public the chance to review and comment on the draft assessment itself once it is released.”
Mark Allison, director of the advocacy group New Mexico Wild, said the recent actions in New Mexico reflect a “broader systemic attack of the administration on public lands,” noting the failed efforts by congressional Republicans to sell or privatize millions of acres last year.
Last year’s mass layoffs and budget cuts at agencies that manage public lands, Allison said, represent a direct “attempt to really despoil and radically undermine the very idea of public lands, a uniquely American birthright.”
Allison said communities here will continue to organize against the changes proposed by the federal government.
“New Mexicans overwhelmingly support public lands and conservation,” he said. “They’re really part of our history, our cultures, our traditional uses — and really — our very identity as New Mexicans.”