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Chief District Judge Stan Whitaker has announced that he is stepping down from his post but will continue to sit on the bench.
A spokesman for the 2nd District Court confirmed Thursday that Whitaker made the announcement in an August 20 email to court staff.
“While I plan to continue serving as a ‘regular judge’ in the penalty box, I think it is time to hand the reins to another judge to help move the court forward,” wrote Whitaker.
Whitaker has been the boss since January 2019. He was elected by colleagues in October 2018 after then chief judge Nan Nash announced plans for retirement.
District court spokesman Sidney Hill said he had no information on when an election might be held to elect Whitaker’s successor.
Stan Whitaker
Whitaker, a graduate of the University of New Mexico Law School, served as the U.S. Assistant Attorney for the New Mexico District and as the District Attorney in the Second Judicial District prior to being named family court in 2006. He later moved to the criminal chamber.
Whitaker has led the court throughout the COVID-19 pandemic when the New Mexico Supreme Court suspended jury trials nationwide for more than five months in 2020 and 2021.
In the year ended June 30, the Bernalillo district saw only 22 criminal trials, up from 66 the previous year.
Whitaker’s announcement comes after Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina’s 2nd District Court came under fire for releasing a murder suspect who subsequently cut off his ankle. The suspect has since been arrested.
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham recently announced that she will support a move by District Attorney Raúl Torrez to require judges to detain accused of certain violent crimes awaiting trial.
Whitaker has also presided over the criminal prosecution issue at a time of tension between Torrez and the district court.
The district court has in recent years reduced the number of hours the grand jury can spend each week, so prosecutors have to hold more preliminary hearings in order to initiate criminal proceedings.
Torrez and Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller wrote a joint letter in May 2019 calling on the state’s Supreme Court to intervene, arguing that preliminary negotiations are time-consuming and resource-intensive.
The Supreme Court refused to intervene.
Whitaker and then Judge Charles Brown denied that the shift to preliminary hearings was necessary “given the prosecution’s historic failure to subpoena cases,” which “resulted in a waste of resources for all those involved in the criminal justice system.”
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