Legal News for Albuquerque, New Mexico
Bernalillo County
United States of America v. Robert Haack
Albuquerque, New Mexico, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with wire and mail fraud. Robert Haack, 59, carried out a years long scheme to defraud collectors by selling counterfeit jewelry falsely represented as authentic works by renowned Hopi artist Charles Loloma. The evidence established that between approximately 2008 and 2015, Haack manufactured dozens of fake Lo... More...
(01-29-2026 - NM)United States of America v. Adrian Cheama
Albuquerque, New Mexico, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury. On June 16, 2025, Adrian Cheama, 37, an enrolled member of the Zuni Pueblo, stabbed an unarmed man in the abdomen with a sharp metal object without apparent provocation, then disposed of the weapon, preventing law enforcement from rec... More...
(01-29-2026 - NM)State of New Mexico v. Angelique Silva
Albuquerque, New Mexico criminal defense lawyer John Rhinehart represented the Defendant charged with burglary, unlawful taking of an automobile and theft of a credit card. Angelique Silva, age 43, broke into and stole with keys inside lockers in a gym where the owners were exercising. She would then steal the cars parked in the parking lot.... More...
(01-23-2026 - NM)United States of America v. Santiago Martinez
Denver, Colorado, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with manslaughter. Santiago Martinez, age 33, killed Suazo during an argument outside their shared home on the Taos Pueblo. The couple had been listening to music when DeAnna again expressed her long-stated desire to end their romantic relationship, which she had often done before. The argument escalated into a physi... More...
(01-16-2026 - NM)State of New Mexico v. Timothy Busfield
Albuquerque, New Mexico, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with sexual abuse of a minor. Timothy Busfield, accused of abusing a 7 year old boy on the set of “The Cleaning Lady,” a TV series Busfield directed and acted in.... More...
(01-10-2026 - NM)United States of America v. Donald Thompson
Albuquerque, New Mexico, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with second-degree murder. On January 1, 2026, Donald Thompson, 49, an enrolled member of the Pueblo of Laguna, allegedly shot and killed another Laguna Pueblo member during a confrontation at a cemetery within the Pueblo of Laguna in Cubero, New Mexico. Law enforcement responded to reports of a shooting and foun... More...
(01-08-2026 - NM)United States of America v. Max Jaramillo
Albuquerque, New Mexico, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with wire fraud and embezzlement by an Officer of a Labor Organization. From 2014 through early 2024, Max Jaramillo, 58, served as treasurer of the National Postal Mail Handlers Union, Local 331, a position that carries fiduciary duties to safeguard union assets and to accurately disclose the union’s financial... More...
(01-07-2026 - NM)State of New Mexico v. April Hernandez
Albuquerque, New Mexico, criminal defense lawyer represented the defendant charged with identity theft and fraud. April Hernandez was accused of identity theft and multiple counts of fraud after stealing three nurses’ identities and providing care for hospice patients without a license.... More...
(01-07-2026 - NM)State of New Mexico v. Jason Hurd
Albuquerque, New Mexico, criminal defense lawyer represents the Defendant, Jason Hurd, accused for shoplifting. The allegedly stole $700 from the Target on Paseo del Norte in Albuquerque.... More...
(01-05-2026 - NM)State of New Mexico v. Hunter Apachito
Albuquerque, New Mexico, criminal defense lawyer represents the Defendant, Hunter Apachito, age 22, who is charged with domestic assault and battery and felony pointing of a firearm.... More...
(01-05-2026 - NM)United States of America v. Jason Baca
Albuquerque, New Mexico, criminal defense lawyer represents the Defendant charged with felony possession of a firearm. 18:922(g)(1) and 924: Felon in Possession of a Firearm and Ammunition; 18:111(a) and (b): Assault on a Federal Officer; 18:924(c)(1)(A)(ii): Brandishing a Firearm During and in Relation to, and in Furtherance of, a Crime of Violence. An Albuquerque man is federally charged... More...
(12-29-2025 - NM)State of New Mexico v. Robert Candelaria
Albuquerque, New Mexico, criminal defense lawyer represents the Defendant charged with DUI. Robert Candelaria, had a wreck on Interstate 40 eastbound on December 24, 2025. A search of Candelaria' vehicle at the scene disclosed that cocaine.... More...
(12-29-2025 - NM)State of New Mexico v. Crystal Hernandez
Albuquerque, New Mexico, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with child abuse. Crystal Hernandez, age 39, is accused for letting her 4-year-old son access cocaine. When police entered Hernandez's child's teeth were rotten and his heartbeat was abnormal. Hernandez allegedly said that her child most likely tested positive for cocaine as a result go getting into her bo... More...
(12-27-2025 - NM)United States of America v. Robert J. Padilla, Jr.
Albuquerque, New Mexico, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with orchestrating a retaliatory killing tied to a violent prison gang and for using violence and intimidation to protect an ongoing drug trafficking operation. Robert Padilla, 48, was an associate of the Syndicato de Nuevo Mexico (SNM), a prison-based gang whose members and associates engaged in murder, drug tr... More...
(12-19-2025 - NM)United States of America v. Robert Padilla
Albuquerque, New Mexico, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with orchestrating a retaliatory killing tied to a violent prison gang and for using violence and intimidation to protect an ongoing drug trafficking operation. Robert Padilla, 48, was an associate of the Syndicato de Nuevo Mexico (SNM), a prison-based gang whose members and associates engaged in murder, drug tr... More...
(12-19-2025 - NM)United States of America v. Maylene John
Albuquerque, New Mexico, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with voluntary manslaughter in Indian Country. On October 24, 2022, Maylene John, 35, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation at the time of the offense, stabbed her 7-year-old daughter in the heart with a knife, causing her death. John was under the influence of methamphetamine at the time of the incident. J... More...
(12-10-2025 - NM)State of New Mexico v. Jameei Waheed
Albuquerque, New Mexico, criminal defense lawyer will represent the Defendant accused for a shooting at the All Eyes On Me Barber Shop, near Central Avenue and Fifth Street, that left one person wounded.... More...
(11-30-2025 - NM)State of New Mexico v. Darrell McGrew
Albuquerque, New Mexico, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with multiple crimes. He sped in and out of traffic in a stolen vehicle on Interstate 40 and I-25, before BCSO deputies brought the pursuit to an end with a PIT maneuver in Bosque Farms.... More...
(11-28-2025 - NM)State of New Mexico v. Dominic Speer
Albuquerque, New Mexico, criminal defense lawyer represents the Defendant charged with aggravated fleeing, resisting arrest, and murder. Dominic Speer, age 18, is accused of a shocking and grizzly crime. The body of the victim was found in the trunk of Speer's car.... More...
(11-19-2025 - NM)United States of America v. Jason Pete Roper
Albuquerque, New Mexico, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with three counts of Hobbs Act robbery, 18 U.S.C. 1951. On August 14, August 15, and September 8, 2022—while he was completing a term of supervised release imposed for a previous federal conviction—Roper robbed three Ross Dress For Less stores, stealing a total of approximately $1,800... More...
(11-19-2025 - NM)State of New Mexico v. Alexis Najera Hernandez
Albuquerque, New Mexico criminal defense lawyer represents the Defendant charged with murder. Alexis Najera Hernandez, age 25, is accused of killing two men who he claimed were stalking him. ... More...
(11-10-2025 - NM)Charles Farden v. United States of America
Albuquerque, New Mexico personal injury lawyer represented the Plaintiff on a Federal Tort Claims Act claim. At issue in this suit under the Federal Tort Claims Act is whether the United States can be held liable for false imprisonment or false arrest when a federal law enforcement officer restrains or arrests a person whom he has probable cause to believe is committing the federal crime ... More...
(11-03-2025 - NM)United States of America v. Martin Aispuro-Lopez, Victor Manuel Felix-Ramirez
Albuquerque, New Mexico criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with Drug Trafficking and Firearms Offenses. Two Mexican nationals illegally present in the United States were sentenced to 17 and 22 years in federal prison following a multi-agency drug investigation that uncovered methamphetamine, fentanyl, cocaine and multiple loaded firearms at an Albuquerque residence... More...
(10-24-2025 - NM)United States of America v. Keaton Overton Gunnels
Albuquerque, New Mexico, pro se defendant charged with two counts of making a false statement on a loan or credit application. Mr. Gunnels was indicted by a federal grand jury on February 27, 2019, for two counts of making a false statement on a loan or credit application. Doc. 2. He pled guilty to Count 2 of the Indictment on May 25, 2021. Doc. 51, 53. He admitted that he had committed t... More...
(10-10-2025 - NM)Samaritan Ministries International, et al. v. Alice T. Kane
Albuquerque, New Mexico, civil rights lawyer represented the Plaintiffs claiming religious discrimination. The Affordable Care Act (“ACAâ€) contains an insurance mandate that requires applicable individuals to maintain minimum essential coverage. Samaritan Ministries International (“Samaritanâ€) is a nonprofit healthcare sharing ministry (“HCSMâ€) whose me... More...
(10-09-2025 - NM)