Metro Court Scandal News

I bought the Saturday Journal and read this benign headline a couple times.  I was slightly distracted by my delicious breakfast burrito - sitting in take out at Casa Benavides.  Green chile made my eyes water and I blinked through the article again.   Judges Reject Bid to Dismiss Cases.  Buried deep was one mention of the Metro Court scandal.  This link is to the Albuquerque Tribune archive.   The lack of context and depth was in sharp contrast to tasty beans in that fresh warm chewy tortilla.     The paper became a place mat.

It seems to me that Manny Aragon and many others have an interest in putting off this case and challenging its progression every step of the way.  They must think if it takes long enough, no one will remember what they've done - bilked the public.  Public memory is fragile.  To support a call for justice requires repeated presentation of known facts.  The Journal isn't providing that. 

And even with that repetition, some will get away with it.  Just ask Cricket Coogler. 

It is both official and unanimous: Three federal judges have rebuffed a bid to dimiss criminal cases because the new U.S. attorney was appointed by judges instead of by the president.

U.S. District Judge James O. Browning joined Judges M. Christina Armijo and William "Chip" Johnson in finding that the court's appointment of Greg Fouratt as the chief federal prosecutor was not unconstitutional— defense arguments notwithstanding. ...

In challenges launched in some two dozen criminal cases— including the Metro Court scandal— the criminal defense bar has argued that having judges appoint the chief federal prosecutor violated the separation of powers clause of the Constitution. They have argued that the chief prosecutor has essentially become beholden to the judges who gave him the job and that the appointment lacked accountability because they have lifetime appointments.

 And they would know beholden.  Nice try.