Watch Live: New Mexico Attorney General filing petition of writ against judge in Las Cruces teacher groping case
UPDATE - Attorney General Torrez said that in his opinion, Judge Douglas Driggers violated the law due to a misapplication of the law.
The complete filing to the New Mexico Supreme Court is linked on the Attorney General's website.
The two arguments in the filing from the Attorney General are that the probation was ended early, not filling the mandated time. The second was not following the requirements for time when a hearing is scheduled, to allow the victims to be present.
Doña Ana County District Attorney Gerald Byers informed the public that he filed a motion for Patrick Howard's parole to be reinstated. Byers explained that in this particular case, it was to be no less than five years supervised parole.
The filing by the Attorney General writes that Howard's lawyers filed to have his probation terminated on March 15th. The filing stated that the court filed a notice of hearing on March 19th, and the hearing was held on March 21st. The requirements are for seven working days be granted from the time the hearing is schedule before it takes place, to allow the DA's office to inform victims if they wish to attend and be heard, according to DA Byers.
ABC-7 reached out to Judge Driggers' office and was told that to it being an ongoing criminal matter, the Judge is precluded by the judicial code from commenting on the case.
LAS CRUCES, New Mexico (KVIA) -- New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez is filing a petition of writ against Las Cruces District Court Judge Douglas R. Driggers, who oversaw the case of Patrick Howard.
A petition of writ is when a petition is filed to have a higher court review a case or decision made by a lower court, according to information from the U.S. Supreme Court.
Patrick Howard, a former Las Cruces High School teacher, agreed to a plea deal in May 2021, for inappropriately touching a student.
Torrez's office broke down the events of the case in a statement.
"The Las Cruces High School teacher pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting one of his female students in 2018. He agreed to a five-year probation term in exchange for dismissal of the remaining charges and other benefits. But after serving less than three years of his probation, he asked the court to terminate the remainder of his probation. A hearing was scheduled and took place in very short order, but the victims were not notified of the hearing and their voices were not heard."
A news release sent out by the Attorney General stated his office has two arguments against Judge Driggers.
The two points listed by the Attorney General are Violation of Statutes Guiding Probation for Sex Offenders and Conditional Discharge and Violations of the Victim Rights Act, according to the AG's office.
“It is truly shocking that a convicted sex offender was released from supervision after having served barely half the time required by law and, what’s worse, the court made this decision without giving the victims in the case an opportunity to be heard,” according to a statement from AG Torrez.
ABC-7 is at Friday's press conference and will bring more information in a live report.
