N.M. R. Crim. P. Magist. Ct. 6-105

As amended through August 23, 2024

Rule 6-105 - Assignment and designation of judges

A.Assignment. In magistrate courts with two or more judges, cases shall be assigned randomly among the judges of the court under a selection system administered by the Supreme Court, unless the presiding judge orders otherwise for good cause shown. Once a judge is assigned to hear a case that judge shall have sole responsibility for the case and no other judge may take any action on the case except

(1) at arraignment or first appearance;

(2) in cases where the judge has been reassigned because the assigned judge has been recused, is excused, is sick, or is otherwise unavailable and another judge has been assigned; or

(3) with the approval of the assigned judge and all of the parties.

B.Reassignment.

(1)Courts with two or more judges. In magistrate courts with two or more judges, upon receipt of a notice of excusal or upon recusal, the magistrate court shall give written notice to the parties to the action.

(a)Recusal. Upon recusal, the selection system administered by the Supreme Court shall randomly assign another magistrate judge first, to another judge in the originating court, or, if all of those judges have been excused or have recused, to another judge in the same magistrate district to preside over the case unless for good cause shown the presiding magistrate judge shall make a specific assignment. In situations where recusal would be required for multiple judges in a magistrate district, recusing magistrate judges may enter a joint recusal prior to formal assignment by the selection system in order to expedite the recusal process.

(b)Excusal; reassignment. Upon the filing of a notice of excusal, the selection system administered by the Supreme Court shall randomly reassign the case first, to another judge in the originating court, or, if all of those judges have been excused or have recused, to another judge in the same magistrate district, unless the presiding judge determines that there is justifiable reason to assign a case to a particular judge and the reason is included in the notice of reassignment.

(c)Designation by district court. If all magistrate judges in the magistrate district have been excused or have recused themselves, one of the judges on the district court's order of designation shall be randomly assigned to conduct any further proceedings. The magistrate court shall send notice of the reassignment to the parties. The district court's order of designation shall be entered at the beginning of the calendar year.

(2)Other courts. In magistrate courts with only one magistrate judge, upon receipt of a notice of excusal or upon recusal, the magistrate court shall give written notice to the parties to the action.

(a)Recusal. Upon recusal, another magistrate judge of the magistrate district shall be randomly assigned to preside over the case by the selection system administered by the Supreme Court.

(b)Excusal. Upon the filing of the notice of excusal, another magistrate judge of the magistrate district shall be randomly assigned to preside over the case by the selection system administered by the Supreme Court.

(c)Designation by district court. If all the magistrate judges in the magistrate district have recused themselves or been excused, one of the judges on the district court's order of designation shall be randomly assigned to conduct any further proceedings. The magistrate court shall send notice of the reassignment to the parties. The district court's order of designation shall be entered at the beginning of the calendar year.

C.Assignment out-of-district. If a criminal proceeding is filed against a judge or an employee of the magistrate district in which a criminal proceeding is pending, no judge of the magistrate district may hear the matter and one of the judges on the district court's order of designation shall be randomly assigned to conduct any further proceedings. The magistrate court shall send notice of the reassignment to the parties. The district court's order of designation shall be entered at the beginning of the calendar year.

D.Assignment of direct criminal contempt cases. Cases of direct criminal contempt shall be assigned to the judge before whom the contempt occurred.

E.Reassignment to multiple cases. The district court judge may designate a magistrate judge from another magistrate district to sit in actions arising in a particular magistrate district for a specific period of time.

F.Subsequent proceedings. All proceedings shall be conducted in the original magistrate court, except that with the consent of all parties and the assigned judge, proceedings may be held in another magistrate court in the same judicial district in which the original magistrate court is located. The clerk of the original magistrate court shall continue to be responsible for the court file and shall perform such further duties as may be required. Within five (5) business days after assignment or designation of a new judge, the clerk shall make a copy of the court file for the designated judge and forward it to the judge. Within ten (10) business days of adjudication of the case, the original documents of the adjudication shall be forwarded to the clerk of the original magistrate court for filing.

G.Unavailability of judge. At any time during the pendency of the proceedings if the assigned judge is unavailable, the assigned judge may designate another judge of the magistrate district to hear any matter that is not dispositive of the case or the parties may agree on another judge to hear any matter, including the merits of the case. The agreement is subject to the approval of the assigned judge and the judge agreed upon by the parties. If another judge is agreed upon to hear the merits of the case, the case shall be reassigned to that judge.

N.M. R. Crim. P. Magist. Ct. 6-105

As amended, effective 9/1/1989;11/1/1995;5/1/2002; as amended by Supreme Court Order No. 07-8300-034, effective 1/22/2008; by Supreme Court Order No. 10-8300-016, effective 5/14/2010; by Supreme Court Order No. 11-8300-041, effective for cases filed on or after12/2/2011; as amended by Supreme Court Order No. 15-8300-006, effective for all cases pending or filed on or after12/31/2015; as amended by Supreme Court Order No. 17-8300-026, effective for all cases pending or filed on or after12/31/2017.

Committee commentary. - In 2011, Subparagraph (B)(1)(a) was amended to provide for a joint recusal process for magistrates in those limited circumstances where it may be appropriate, such as, when a current employee or employee's family member is a defendant or litigant in magistrate court.

[Adopted by Supreme Court Order No. 11-8300-041, effective for cases filed on or after December 2, 2011; as amended by Supreme Court Order No. 15-8300-006, effective for all cases pending or filed on or after December 31, 2015.]

ANNOTATIONS The 2017 amendment, approved by Supreme Court Order No. 17-8300-026, effective December 31, 2017, removed the provision allowing the parties to stipulate to a replacement judge after a magistrate judge has been excused, removed the ten-day time limit within which a district court judge will be assigned to a case in which all magistrate judges in the magistrate district have been excused or have recused themselves, and removed the provision allowing the parties to file a stipulation designating a magistrate judge to preside over a criminal proceeding against a judge or an employee of the same magistrate district; in Paragraph B, Subparagraph B(1)(b), in the subparagraph heading, after "Excusal", added "; reassignment", and in the first sentence, after "notice of excusal", deleted "the magistrate court shall give written notice to the parties to the action. Upon the filing of a notice of excusal, the parties or their counsel may agree to another judge of the magistrate district to preside over the case and this agreement shall be contained in the notice of excusal.", deleted the former subparagraph designation and heading "(c) Reassignment." and the language "If the parties fail to agree on a judge", added the remaining language from former Subparagraph B(1)(c) to Subparagraph B(1)(b), and redesignated former Subparagraph B(1)(d) as Subparagraph B(1)(c), and after "the Supreme Court shall", deleted "within ten (10) days", and in Subparagraph B(1)(c), after "recused themselves", deleted "within ten (10) days after service of the last notice of excusal or recusal", in Subparagraph B(2)(b), after "notice of excusal", deleted "the parties or their counsel may agree to another judge of the magistrate district to preside over the case. This agreement shall be contained in the Notice of Excusal. Upon excusal", in Subparagraph B(2)(c), after "or been excused", deleted "within ten (10) days after filing of the last notice of recusal or excusal"; and in Paragraph C, after "may hear the matter", deleted "without written agreement of the parties. If within ten (10) days after the proceeding is filed, the parties have not filed a stipulation designating a judge to preside over the matter", and added "and". The 2015 amendment, approved by Supreme Court Order No. 15-8300-006, effective December 31, 2015, modified the procedure for assigning magistrate judges when all of the magistrate judges in the magistrate district have been excused or have recused themselves, modified the procedure for assigning a judge when, in a pending criminal proceeding, a judge or employee of the magistrate district is a party to that proceeding, made stylistic changes, and revised the committee commentary; in Paragraph A, after "In", deleted "those" and added "magistrate", and after "two or more judges", deleted "the"; in Subparagraph B(1), after "upon recusal", deleted "the magistrate or clerk of"; in Subparagraph B(1)(a), in the first sentence, after the third occurrence of "magistrate", added "judge", in the second sentence, after "recusing", deleted "magistrates" and added "magistrate judges"; in Subparagraph B(1)(b), after "notice of excusal", deleted "the judge or clerk of", and after the next "the", added "magistrate"; in Subparagraph B(1)(d), in the heading, deleted "Certification to" and added "Designation by", in the first sentence, after "If all", deleted "magistrates" and added "magistrate judges", after "excusal or recusal", deleted "the presiding magistrate shall certify that fact by letter to the district court of the county in which the action is pending and the district court shall designate another magistrate" and added "one of the judges on the district court's order of designation shall be randomly assigned", after "any further proceedings. The", deleted "district" and added "magistrate", after "shall send notice of", deleted "its designation" and added "the reassignment", after "to the parties", deleted "or their counsel, to the excused or recused magistrate and to the designated magistrate", and added the last sentence; in Subparagraph B(2), after the second occurrence of "magistrate", added "judge", and after the third occurrence of "magistrate", added "court"; in Subparagraph B(2)(c), in the heading, deleted "Certification to" and added "Designation by", in the first sentence, after "If all the", deleted "magistrates" and added "magistrate judges", after "recusal or excusal", deleted "the magistrate of the court where the action was first filed shall certify that fact by letter to the district court of the county in which the action is pending and the district court shall designate another magistrate" and added "one of the judges on the district court's order of designation shall be randomly assigned", in the second sentence, after "The", deleted "district" and added "magistrate", after "shall send notice of" deleted "its designation" and added "the reassignment", after "parties", deleted "or their counsel, to the excused magistrate and to the designated magistrate", and added the last sentence; in Paragraph C, in the second sentence, after "over the matter," deleted "the clerk shall request the district court to designate a judge" and added "one of the judges on the district court's order of designation shall be randomly assigned to conduct any further proceedings", in the third sentence, after "The", deleted "district" and added "magistrate", after "shall send notice of", deleted "its designation" and added "the reassignment", after "parties", deleted "or their counsel and to the magistrate court", and added the last sentence; and in Paragraph E, after the first occurrence of "district", added "court", and after the first occurrence of "magistrate", added "judge". The 2011 amendment, approved by Supreme Court Order No. 11-8300-041, effective December 2, 2011, in Sub-subparagraph (a) of Subparagraph (1) of Paragraph B, added the last sentence to permit magistrates to enter a joint recusal prior to formal assignment by the selection system. The 2010 amendment, approved by Supreme Court Order No. 10-8300-016, effective May 14, 2010, in Paragraph A, in the first sentence, after "In those courts", changed "which have a presiding magistrate, the presiding magistrate shall assign cases among the judges of the court as equitably on a random basis" to "with two or more judges, the cases shall be assigned randomly among the judges of the court pursuant to a selection system administered by the Supreme Court"; in Subparagraph (1) of Paragraph B, in the title, after "Courts with", deleted "presiding magistrates" and added "two or more judges", and in the first sentence, after "In magistrate courts", deleted "which have a presiding magistrate" and added "with two or more judges"; in Item (a) of Subparagraph (1) of Paragraph B, after "Upon recusal, the", deleted "presiding magistrate of the court" and added "selection system administered by the Supreme Court"; after "Supreme Court shall", added "randomly"; added the language that occurs between "assign another magistrate judge" and "to preside over the case"; and after "to preside over the case", added the remainder of the sentence; in Item (c) of Subparagraph (1) of Paragraph B, after "agree on a judge, the", deleted "presiding judge" and added "selection system administered by the Supreme Court shall"; and added the language that occurs between "randomly reassign the case" and "unless the presiding judge determines"; in Item (d) of Subparagraph (1) of Paragraph B, in the first sentence, after "If all magistrates in the", added "magistrate"; in Subparagraph (2) of Paragraph B, in the introductory sentence, after "In magistrate courts", deleted "which do not have a presiding" and added "with only one magistrate"; in Item (a) of Subparagraph (2) of Paragraph B, after "assigned to preside over the case", deleted "chief clerk and in such a manner that all other judges of the magistrate district are assigned approximately equal numbers of cases in which another magistrate has been recused" and added the remainder of the sentence; in Item (b) of Subparagraph (2) of Paragraph B, in the third sentence, after "assigned to preside over the case", deleted "chief clerk and in such a manner that all other judges of the magistrate district are assigned approximately equal numbers of cases in which another magistrate has been excused" and added the remainder of the sentence; added Paragraph D; and in Paragraph F, in the third sentence, after "Within five (5)", added "business" and after "court file for the designated judge", added the remainder of the sentence; and added the last sentence. The 2007 amendment, approved by Supreme Court Order No. 07-8300-034, effective January 22, 2008, added Paragraph A providing for assignment of judges in magistrate court districts with presiding judges; relettered Paragraph A as Paragraph B and revised the paragraph to add subparagraphs and reorganize the provisions; added a new Paragraph C providing for reassignment of criminal cases out of the district when charges are filed against a judge or employee of the district; added a new Paragraph D to provide for designation of a temporary magistrate to serve in a magistrate district; relettered former Paragraph B as a new Paragraph E and amended the paragraph to provide for trial in another magistrate district upon consent of the parties; and relettered former Paragraph C as Paragraph F to provide for hearings of nondispositive matters upon absence of the availability of the trial judge and to permit the parties to agree upon another judge to hear the merits of the case. The 2002 amendment, effective May 1, 2002, added Paragraph C. The 1995 amendment, effective November 1, 1995, rewrote the rule.

For disqualification of magistrate, see Section 35-3-7 NMSA 1978. For the statutory right to excuse a magistrate court judge, see Section 35-3-8 NMSA 1978. For constitutional right to disqualify a magistrate court judge, see N.M. Const., art. 6, § 18. For form on certification of excusal or recusal, see Rule 4-102 NMRA. For form on notice of excusal, see Rule 4-103 NMRA. For disqualification pursuant to the Code of Judicial Conduct, see Rule 21-400 NMRA. Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. - 46 Am. Jur. 2d Judges §§ 86, 88, 91, 261 et seq. Interlocutory ruling or order of one judge as binding on another in same case, 132 A.L.R. 14. Requiring successor judge to journalize finding or decision of predecessor, 4 A.L.R.2d 584. Power of successor judge taking office during termtime to vacate, etc., judgment entered by his predecessor, 11 A.L.R.2d 1117. Receipt of verdict in civil case in absence of trial judge, 20 A.L.R.2d 281. Disqualification of original trial judge to sit on retrial after reversal or mistrial, 60 A.L.R.3d 176. Disqualification of judge, justice of the peace or similar judicial officer for pecuniary interest in fines, forfeitures or fees payable by litigants, 72 A.L.R.3d 375. Power of successor judge taking office during term time to vacate, set aside, or annul judgment entered by his or her predecessor, 51 A.L.R.5th 747. Power of successor or substituted judge, in civil case, to render decision or enter judgment on testimony heard by predecessor, 84 A.L.R.5th 399. 48A C.J.S. Judges §§ 162 to 185.