A special prosecutor has dropped a misdemeanor charge of driving while intoxicated against state District Court Judge Francis J. Mathew, citing his blood-alcohol content readings that were below the legal limit.
“Sufficient evidence does not exist to support a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt,” Kari Morrissey said Tuesday in a news release from the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office. “This decision was made based on an analysis of all of the evidence in this case.”
Mathew was stopped at a state police checkpoint in Santa Fe on the evening of Dec. 13. Officers wrote in a statement of probable cause he failed standard field sobriety tests and was taken to a police station for alcohol breath tests. His blood alcohol level registered at 0.05% and then 0.04% — under the state’s limit of 0.08% for adult drivers, according to the police statement.
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The news release Tuesday noted Mathew “complied with New Mexico State Police DWI protocol and was cooperative with investigating officers.”
“An analysis of the evidence revealed that Judge Mathew’s blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was well below the legal limit of 0.08% and other evidence of impairment was also lacking or absent,” the release states.
Mathew’s attorney Ben Ortega said he concurred with the assessment of the evidence and supported the case’s dismissal.
Ortega said he advised against driving after drinking any amount of alcohol, saying “even if you do everything right, if a police officer were to release you and you got into a car crash, it could come back on them.”
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“This could become a stressful ordeal for an innocent person to go through,” Ortega said.
“If you’ve had anything to drink — regardless of the quantity — don’t drive until after the alcohol has left your system, and then some.”
The case was dropped shortly after it was filed, a policy of the District Attorney’s Office in misdemeanor drunken-driving cases to give staff additional time to screen cases and gather evidence before moving forward and potentially refiling. Morrissey, who is perhaps best known as the special prosecutor who handled Alec Baldwin’s 2023 trial, was named special prosecutor on Mathew’s case in January.
It is unclear whether Mathew could face discipline from the Judicial Standards Commission for the incident. The commission’s proceedings are confidential unless and until they result in action.
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