LAWYERS IN DRUG CASE MOVE TO DISQUALIFY DA

LAS CRUCES - With their trial on racketeering and drug-trafficking
charges two months away, the former Mesilla marshal and his son are
seeking to disqualify District Attorney Susana Martinez from
prosecuting the case.

A motion filed in state District Court on behalf of Michael Gonzales
Jr., the son of former Mesilla Marshal Miguel O. Gonzales, argues the
district attorney has ''engaged in the political prosecution'' of the
Gonzaleses, in part to advance her career.

Gonzales Jr.'s defense attorney, Jose Coronado, plans to call DA
Martinez as a witness to get testimony about her motivation.

"The prosecutor's office cannot both be a witness in the case and
also the prosecuting attorney,'' Coronado wrote in his motion to
disqualify Martinez's office from handling the case.

Martinez declined to comment on specifics contained in the motion.
However, she said, ''As an attorney who must comply with my ethical
obligations, I would never prosecute someone for personal reasons.
Because, at the end of it all, there must be some evidence that would
convict. Otherwise, the personal reasons are extremely obvious.''

Miguel O. Gonzales, 57, and his 34-year-old son were arrested by Las
Cruces police in October 1999 and charged with racketeering,
conspiracy to traffic cocaine, solicitation to traffic cocaine,
receiving stolen property, criminal solicitation to promote
prostitution, criminal solicitation to commit larceny and attempted
tax evasion.

Michael Gonzales Jr. once was an employee of Martinez in the District
Attorney's Office.

Most of the alleged criminal activities occurred at the Welcome Inn,
the East Amador Avenue bar which Miguel Gonzales owns and operates.
In April, the district attorney filed a complaint in District Court
aimed at shutting down the Welcome Inn as a public nuisance, due to
numerous police calls for public drunkenness, traffic accidents,
threats and gunshots.

According to the nuisance complaint, two Welcome Inn regulars pleaded
guilty in 1999 to selling undercover agents drugs, heroin in one
case, cocaine in another. Two Welcome Inn bartenders pleaded guilty
to selling cocaine to undercover agents in 1998 and 1999. A third
bartender pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to receive stolen
property - a television - in a 1998 case.

The defense tactic of arguing a prosecutor is politically motivated
is ''very, very, very rare,'' Martinez said, adding she could only
recall two other instances in her 15-year career.

Coronado's motion is scheduled to be heard by Judge Robert Robles on
July 19. The attorney for Miguel Gonzales filed a motion Wednesday
arguing the same case against Martinez.

If the motion is granted, Martinez said a trial would be delayed
while a special prosecutor is appointed.

The defendant's motion says the conflict with the district attorney
began in 1993, when Martinez was an assistant district attorney for
then-DA G. Greg Valdez, a longtime friend of the Gonzaleses and now a
civil attorney for the father and son.

In 1993, with Miguel Gonzales present, then-DA Valdez fired Martinez
''citing her lack of competency,'' Coronado's motion states.

In 1995 Martinez, through a signature drive, managed to present a
petition to a grand jury seeking to indict Valdez, who still was
district attorney, on 10 counts. The grand jury indicted Valdez on
one count of perjury, which was subsequently dismissed.

Martinez defeated Valdez in 1996 for the district attorney's post,
and inherited as an employee Michael Gonzales Jr., who was at the
time the sole investigator for the DA's office. After some
employment-related conflicts, Gonzales Jr. resigned as the DA's
investigator in 1998.

Coronado said Martinez has transferred to other prosecutors several
other cases where there was an appearance of a conflict of interest
and that she should do so in this case. The Gonzales' cases are set
to go to trial Aug. 20 in Albuquerque, where the case was moved
because of publicity in the Las Cruces area.

Martinez noted defense attorneys waited over one year to file the
motion to disqualify her office from handling the case.