Courts

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The county clerk in the New Mexico state capital and the heart of this state's gay rights movement began issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples Friday, a court-ordered move that came just two days after a county clerk in the south decided on his own to recognize same-sex marriage.

The first couple to get a license in the state's third-largest county was Santa Fe County Commissioner Liz Stefanics and Linda Siegle, a lobbyist for Equality New Mexico, a gay rights group. Stefanics is a former Democratic state senator from Santa Fe.

The couple walked into County Clerk Geraldine Salazar's office shortly after 1:30 p.m., and asked if they were still denying licenses to same-sex couples.

"Not today," Salazar said.

Also receiving a license were the two men who filed the lawsuit that resulted in the court order directing the clerk to issue the licenses — Alexander Hanna and Yon Hudson.

"It's exhilarating and also humbling," Hudson said.

The order late Thursday from District Judge Sarah Singleton represents the first time a New Mexico judge has ruled that gay and lesbian couples can be married, said state Rep. Brian Egolf, a lawyer representing Hanna and Hudson in the suit.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A same-sex couple from Santa Fe has asked the New Mexico Supreme Court to streamline the handling of lawsuits seeking to legalize gay marriage in the state.

Rep. Brian Egolf, a Santa Fe Democrat and lawyer for the couple, said Tuesday the goal is to get a quick lower court decision and clear the way for an expedited ruling by the state's highest court.

The justices are being asked to consolidate all cases involving the gay marriage issue and assign them to a district court judge in Santa Fe, who would issue a ruling that would go directly to the Supreme Court for review.

The Supreme Court took a similar approach in 2011 by consolidating several competing lawsuits over the drawing of new district boundaries for legislative, congressional and other elected offices. The court assigned the redistricting challenges to a retired judge in Santa Fe. That avoided the possibility of conflicting rulings in different lower courts.

Two cases involving gay marriage are pending in lower courts — one in Santa Fe brought by two men who were denied a marriage license, and a lawsuit in Albuquerque brought on behalf of several same-sex couples by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico and the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

WASHINGTON (AP) — With the U.S. facing massive overcrowding in its prisons, Attorney General Eric Holder is calling for major changes to the nation's criminal justice system that would scale back the use of harsh sentences for certain drug-related crimes.

In remarks prepared for delivery to the American Bar Association in San Francisco, Holder said he also favors diverting people convicted of low-level offenses to drug treatment and community service programs and expanding a prison program to allow for release of some elderly, non-violent offenders.

"We need to ensure that incarceration is used to punish, deter and rehabilitate — not merely to convict, warehouse and forget," Holder says in the speech he's scheduled to deliver Monday.

In one important change, the attorney general is altering Justice Department policy so that low-level, non-violent drug offenders with no ties to large-scale organizations, gangs or cartels won't be charged with offenses that impose mandatory minimum sentences.

Mandatory minimum prison sentences, a product of the government's war on drugs that began in the 1980s, limit the discretion of judges to impose shorter prison sentences.

The information pertaining to these cases was derived from the dockets of the Los Alamos Municipal and Magistrate Courts.

August 1

John L. Breiner was found guilty in Los Alamos Municipal Court of failure to yield/stop at sign. The defendant was fined $50 and ordered to pay $46 in court costs.

Lee Donghun was found guilty in Los Alamos Municipal Court of failure to yield/stop at sign. The defendant was fined $50 and ordered to pay $46 in court costs.

August 5

Joel Grajeda was found guilty in Los Alamos Municipal Court of aggravated driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or drugs and driving on a suspended or revoked license. The defendant was fined $1,799 and ordered to pay $373 in court costs.
In addition, the defendant was sentenced to 179 days at the Los Alamos County Detention Center, as well as one year supervised probation. During that time, he must check in with the probation officer every week, get an ignition interlock device installed in all motor vehicles owned, as well as participate in alcohol education classes.

Madeleine C. Brown was found guilty in Los Alamos Municipal Court of speeding six to 10 miles over the posted speed limit. The defendant was fined $50 and ordered to pay $46 in court costs.