New Mexico

In re Schwartz is a disciplinary proceeding for a trial court judge. Judge Robert Schwartz initiated a romantic relationship with an assistant public defender with cases before him. The assistant public defender informed her supervisor of Judge Schwartz’s planned recusal via a voice message. In the following days, Judge Schwartz provided dishonest reasons for his recusal from some cases involving the assistant public defender, and entered rulings in some other cases involving the assistant public defender.

Littell worked as a paralegal for Allstate in 1996. Aakhus, Littell’s supervisor, regularly told demeaning jokes, touched women inappropriately, commented about other employees’ sexual preferences, and tolerated similar behaviors by other coworkers. After Littell anonymously reported the supervisor to Allstate headquarters, he started to belittle her in public, disciplined her for pretextual reasons, and became more aggressive in general.

Nava had been a police officer for the city of Santa Fe since 1993. In 2000 one of her supervisors, Gallegos, harassed her almost daily. Gallegos checked on her location more than other officers, raised his voice to her, denied her many of the same privileges male officers were afforded, followed her to her house to monitor how long she took on bathroom breaks, assigned rape calls to her even when other officers were closer to the scene of the crime, and threw a file folder at her on one occasion.

Ocana worked for the Santa Fe store of the American Furniture Co. (“AFC”) from July, 1997 to November 1998. On January 10, 2000, Ocana, acting pro se, filed a complaint in a trial court, charging AFC with, among other things, sexual harassment in violation of the New Mexico Human Rights Act ('NMHRA").

Sabella worked for Manor Care, Inc. (“Manor”) from 1989 to 1990. Sabella claimed that her supervisor sexually harassed her and retaliated against her rejections by assigning her to less desirable jobs. On February 8, 1990, Sabella filed a grievance with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (the “EEOC”), but not with the New Mexico Human Rights Division (the “NMHRD”).

On July 15, 1994, a domestic violence protective order involving Gonzales and his wife was entered. The order contained a “stay away” provision, one that prohibited Gonzales from visiting the wife’s workplace. Five days later, on July 15, 1994, Gonzales was arrested for being at the wife’s workplace. The trial court found that Gonzales had violated the protective order in contempt and sentenced him to jail. Five days later, on July 25, 1994, Gonzales was again charged, this time for criminal false imprisonment, battery, stalking, and harassment.

A protective order prohibiting domestic violence involving McGee and his estranged wife was filed on July 1, 1999, under the Family Violence Protection Act (“FVPA”). The order prohibited McGee from writing to, talking to, visiting, or contacting the wife. On February 16, 2000, McGee made six phone calls to his estranged wife from the Otero County Detention Center. Based on these facts, the trial court convicted McGee for six counts of violating the protective order and gave McGee six consecutive sentences.