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Ramona Martinez, a defense attorney and former staffer for Gov. Bill Richardson, said the driving force of her campaign is a shared experience and belief that she can fix things.
“I genuinely believe I can make a difference because I care. It's as simple as that,” Martinez said.
Martinez, a University of New Mexico law school graduate, is one of five candidates running to be district attorney of the 3rd Judicial District. Anxiety around crime, concerns about case dismissals, releases and repeat offenders, combined with questions about the fair execution of justice, make this race the most competitive of the 2024 primary season.
In all, six lawyers chose to run, including incumbent Gerald Byers. After a judge disqualified one for petition problems, the field shrank to four Democrats, including Martinez, vying to take on Republican Michael Cain in November.
Martinez made the case for why she deserved the job over her peers during an interview with the Las Cruces Bulletin.
“I'm on the frontlines of what is happening right now. And I've seen both sides and I am hearing that people are not being heard. And as district attorney, I will listen,” Martinez said.
For Martinez, the district attorney’s office is more than just the area’s top prosecutor. The officeholder is a leader of the community.
“The root causes of crime have to do with homelessness, drug addiction, and those sorts of issues. And so the district attorney has the power and ability to affect those types of policy on the state level and in the local level,” Martinez said. “As a criminal defense attorney, I can sit here and beg for services for my clients. But ultimately, it's the DA who's going to say yes or no to those types of services, especially if I'm asking to divert them to alternative programs.”
Martinez also highlighted her role as an advocate to legislators as a source of change.
“They have influential power in making policy and laws in Santa Fe. And all of these things – to bring diversion programs and behavioral health services – can be advocated through the power of the district attorney,” she said.
Martinez said she looks at the issues in two ways. First, she wondered if there wasn’t a budget issue preventing the office from retaining or hiring more staff. Second, she moved on to questions of leadership.
“The problem is nobody wants to work for the current leadership,” Martinez said.
The district attorney’s office has experienced turnover at a high rate for several years.
The causes are many. As Byers has pointed out, the office cannot compete with salaries at large private firms and the district fishes from the same pool of lawyers as other district attorneys’ offices in New Mexico. But according to all the challengers – including Martinez – the incumbent’s leadership is also driving people away.
Martinez said she’d fix the issue through aggressive recruitment and restructuring the office’s hierarchy.
“You have to be present. You can't just post jobs. You have to actively go recruit these attorneys,” Martinez said.
That’s only half the battle, she said.
“But then when you actually have your attorneys, and you have a full staff, well, number one, you value them, you treat them as professionals, because we all graduated with law degrees, and you want your attorneys to be independent thinkers and be able to handle their caseloads, but also feel supported,” she said.
To support staff, Martinez said she’d structure the office with three chief deputy district attorneys.
“I need those chiefs to be able to fill the holes that maybe I'm lacking, because as a leader, you can't be the one person that can run the entire organization. That's just not the reality,” Martinez said.
New Mexico state law states the fundamental role of the district attorney is to lead an office in prosecuting criminal cases in a specified area. But the experience of doing so provides the officeholder with unique experiences. A district attorney, in theory, could use that experience and the office’s resources to push for change in Santa Fe.
“Out of all the candidates. I'm the only one who's actually been up there in Santa Fe,” Martinez said.
Martinez added, “It's extremely important that you have your district attorney up there representing your constituents, because who else is going to lobby or advocate for the behavioral health services that we desperately need in this county?”
The lack of public services – particularly around behavioral heath and drug treatment – necessitates a district attorney willing to advocate for change at the legislature, she argued.
But advocacy should also occur locally, Martinez said. She said she’d gather community stakeholders, such as the university, to better address issues that lay at the root causes of crime.
“It just takes a person to bring everybody together. And I understand that because that is what I've been doing my entire career,” Martinez said.
Martinez argued that often, when community members talk about “homeless people,” many are referring to people committing low-level crimes. A package taken from someone’s porch or an unwanted guess in someone’s business were examples she gave.
“Your first instinct, anybody's instinct is to want you want to punish these people, because they did you wrong,” she said.
But the problem is that these crimes – however disruptive they are to a local business – are minor crimes. They’re not life sentences, Martinez said. So what should happen when they leave jail?
“What I'm telling people is we have to have the infrastructure to be able to help these people,” Martinez said. “It's called wraparound services. You connect them to Social Security, you connect them to housing, you connect them to mental health services.”
Jail, Martinez argued, was not the place for this help to occur, as some other candidates have argued.
“If you saw what I saw, you would know that jail is not equipped to handle mental health crises. They're not equipped to be a mental health hospital. They're jails,” she said.
Martinez said creating support for people was the only solution.
“We can't lock up our problems. The 1990s already tried doing that. And look where that's gotten us,” Martinez said.
Martinez said she would prosecute cases in court. Doing so would grant her valuable insight into her staff’s experiences, she said.
“It can be mentally taxing on you, because of everything that you have to see,” Martinez said.
Maintaining a human connection to her staff would be critical when ensuring everyone was working toward the same goal.
“I think it's extremely important for your staff and attorneys to see you willing to do the same work that they're doing, because it means to them, ‘I'm valued. And my boss is willing to be boots on the ground with me’,” she said.
This was another area Martinez said she felt she had an advantage over the other candidates. Her first job in the governor’s office was as a constituent service representative, a liaison between the office and the public.
“I think that's what's shaped my vision on everything going forward, because I understand how important it is to maintain that contact with your constituents,” she said.
As district attorney, Martinez said she’d host town halls at least twice a year. The community gathering would allow her office to collect feedback from the community. She said she’d also block time off for constituents to visit the office and speak to her about issues they deem important. She said she’d also ensure that her staff would work to follow up with people.
Lastly, Martinez said she’d attend local meetings.
“It's the sounds pretty simplistic, but you be present. You attend community events, you seek to maintain relationships,” she said. “We have so many resources here, whether it's the domestic violence crisis center, whether it's the universities, whether it's the city or the county. It's not hard at all. You've just got to be present and wanting to do it.”
