Judges try to catch up on cases

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - It’s been a year since Judge Pat Murdoch was forced to step down after being caught on video with a prostitute who accused the judge of raping her.

Judge Murdoch presided under a number of high-profile cases, many which are now in limbo and unresolved.

Nearly all of these cases have been transferred to other judges who need time to get up to speed on the cases.  This inevitably creates delays.

Joseph Blea, for example, is suspected of raping dozens of teenage girls in the late 1980’s near McKinley Middle School.  Blea was arrested in 2010 and charged with a 1989 cold case.  Two years after Blea’s arrest, no trial date has been set.

Then there’s Russell Ross, the accused serial rapist was supposed to plead guilty last July.  But because Judge Murdoch was off the bench, that never happened.  Ross’s attorney now says he is not competent to stand trial.

Murdoch was also the judge in the high-profile public corruption case against former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron and some of her colleagues.  That case has been pending since 2009.  That case is finally set to go to trial in November.

“Some of our cases are very, very involved especially when you are talking about perhaps crimes against children case, where there is a lot of evidence or cases that are a few years old,” Kayla Anderson with the District Attorney’s office said.

Judge Sam Winder took over for Murdoch last year; Winder now has over 1200 cases.

“I was surprised at the amount of work that the attorneys that appear in front of me have to accomplish,” said Judge Winder. “And it did surprise me as to how many cases we have to deal with.”

If only 10 percent went to trial he said, “There is absolutely no way any judge could try that many cases a year.”

But he's doing his best.

“From today to the end of the year every week is taken,” said Winder. “We are trying to move as quickly as we can to get these cases tried.”

Judge Murdoch also oversaw the murder case of Ronald Santiago, a home loan specialist accused of killing two of his former clients, the Ohlemachers.

Murdoch threw out key pieces of evidence in the case. The new judge is getting caught up, but no trial date has been set for that case.

As far as Judge Murdoch, the charges that took him off the bench have been dropped pending possible further developments. He was arrested in his chambers almost a year ago to the day, after a prostitute tried to sell undercover cops a video of her having sex with the judge, and then claimed he also raped her.