Gallup files disciplinary complaint against former DA Bernadine Martin
Gallup says Bernadine Martin’s resignation did not erase missed deadlines, weak court prep and a breakdown in communication that hurt criminal cases.
Gallup is taking Bernadine Martin’s resignation a step further, moving to formally accuse the former McKinley County district attorney of misconduct after months of complaints about how her office handled criminal cases. City leaders say the problems did not end when Martin left office because they affected police work, court deadlines and whether repeat offenders faced accountability.
Deputy City Attorney Erika Pirotte proposed the disciplinary complaint at the May 26 Gallup City Council meeting, opening the door to a formal filing after Martin’s departure. Gallup Police Chief Erin Toadlena-Pablo then described a pattern the police department said it lived with for years: weaker communication with prosecutors, missed deadlines, case declinations that came too late, and poor preparation before hearings.
Toadlena-Pablo said email communication between the district attorney’s office and officers dropped sharply from 2021 to 2024. She said officers were often left out of key information, and prosecutors sometimes declined cases only days before statutory deadlines, giving police little room to respond. She also said the pace of the court process and short notice for subpoenas created more problems, and argued that the result was dismissals, delays and repeat offenders returning to the community without consequences.
The move comes after a prolonged fight between Martin and state and local officials. In June 2025, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham formally requested that the New Mexico Department of Justice consider removal proceedings against Martin. Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed a petition with the New Mexico Supreme Court on Aug. 18, 2025, and Martin resigned on Feb. 26, 2026, effective the next day, as part of a settlement. The court accepted the settlement and dismissed the removal case, but that ended only the Supreme Court proceeding, not other disciplinary action.
That distinction is why Gallup can still press ahead now. The New Mexico Supreme Court Disciplinary Board accepts complaints about attorney misconduct and provides forms for complaints involving former attorneys or non-attorneys, giving the city a path to pursue discipline even after Martin left the office.
The complaints also fit into a broader record of dysfunction that had already drawn state attention. In July 2025, Martin sought $3.8 million in emergency funding from the State Board of Finance, which rejected the request on a 3-1 vote. In September 2025, the attorney general took over two violent-crime cases from Martin’s office after she dismissed them without referring them elsewhere. After her resignation, Lujan Grisham appointed Chief Deputy John Bernitz as interim district attorney, but the fallout from Martin’s tenure is still shaping how Gallup, McKinley County and the state talk about trust in the local justice system.
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