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District attorneys across New Mexico press lawmakers for recruitment funding and digital evidence systems
Summary
Multiple district attorneys told the House Appropriations & Finance Committee they face chronic recruitment and retention shortfalls and asked for funding to support attorney salaries, investigators, contract prosecutors and digital evidence systems (storage, transcription and discovery), saying the gaps hamper trials and victim services.
Representatives of several judicial districts told the House Appropriations & Finance Committee that recruitment and retention, plus modern digital evidence systems, are the top budget priorities for district attorneys across New Mexico.
Why it matters: DAs and their CFOs said high vacancy rates and unfilled positions increase caseloads for remaining staff, slow prosecutions and reduce trial capacity. Multiple offices asked for funds for contract prosecutors and modern digital evidence storage to replace flash drives and DVDs and accelerate discovery.
Common requests and examples - Salary and recruitment pressure: District attorneys from the Sixth, Fifth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh and other districts described recruitment difficulties and vacancy savings they often use to buy vehicles, furniture or to contract for prosecutors. DA Norman Wheeler (Sixth District) said funding a midpoint for existing staff would require roughly a $500,000 budget increase in his district to stabilize pay; he asked for supplemental apportionment to hire experienced prosecutors. - Contract attorneys and investigator hires: Several districts told the committee they rely on contract prosecutors to cover vacancies; the Eleventh Division 1 asked the executive to augment contract attorney funding by about $100,000. - Digital evidence systems: The Fifth Judicial District (Eddy, Lea and Chaves counties) requested funds for maintenance of a NICE Justice digital evidence system. Chief deputy Patrick Belvin described a $195,000 annual cost and said the system would reduce wasteful copying and speed discovery to defendants and defense counsel. - Pre-prosecution diversion programs: Many DAs discussed diversion and said program use varies with defense attorney preferences and case eligibility; some districts said the metrics in the budget packet undercount their diversion work because district-run diversion programs are not captured by the state metric.
Direct quotes - “If we can get people into [pre-prosecution diversion], we can really make a difference and reduce recidivism,” Ninth District Attorney Quentin Ray said of the program in his district. - “We were barely getting by” with current systems, the Sixth District’s new DA Norman Wheeler said, urging more funding to sustain prosecutions and reduce backlogs.
Committee action and context: Committee members repeatedly asked analysts to flag DA technology and recruitment items for further review during the public safety working group. Most district requests were considered under LFC recommendations and the committee adopted the LFC recommendations for each district during the hearing (see Votes at a glance). Several DAs asked that the committee consider supplemental or higher funding to avoid case dismissals if court-imposed case management orders shorten prosecutors’ time to prepare cases.
Ending: The committee accepted the LFC recommendations on individual DA budgets during the hearing but members from both parties asked staff for comparative numbers to consider whether additional investments in prosecutor recruitment, retention or shared evidence systems are warranted in follow-up deliberations.
