Gallup public defender shortage could delay cases, extend jail stays

Gallup’s public defender office is facing a vacancy rate of more than 70 percent, slowing criminal cases in McKinley County and leaving some defendants in jail longer while they wait for lawyers. Jennifer Barela, deputy chief of operations for the New Mexico Law Offices of the Public Defender, is taking cases herself in Gallup as the office tries to keep up with demand.

The statewide system represents 85 to 90 percent of people arrested in New Mexico and handled 86,000 cases in fiscal year 2026. Chief Public Defender Bennett Baur warned that the office cannot continue providing effective assistance of counsel if caseloads keep rising. The pressure is sharpest in Gallup, where the 11th Judicial District office represents McKinley County.

Statewide, the public defender office is about 15 percent vacant. Santa Fe is at 33 percent, Roswell at 44 percent. The Gallup office is at 285 S. Boardman Dr., Suite B.

When there are not enough attorneys, people can spend longer in jail before trial, and cases can be delayed if defendants miss behavioral-health evaluations or treatment that often shape criminal defense and pretrial planning. McKinley County has public-safety cases, substance-use issues and behavioral-health needs that often overlap.

A 2022 workload study by the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defense and Moss Adams found New Mexico’s public defense system had 169 full-time equivalent attorneys and needed 41 more public defenders, a 20 percent deficiency. The Law Offices of the Public Defender’s fiscal year 2025 budget request was an initial step toward implementing those recommendations, and its fiscal year 2026 strategic plan lists caseloads, shortage of contract defenders, vacancy rate and recruitment and retention as critical challenges.

Voters moved the Law Offices of the Public Defender under the Judiciary in 2012, the Public Defender Commission formed in 2013, and the first chief public defender under that structure was appointed the same year. Chief Public Defender Bennett Baur warned that any solution depends in part on legislative pay raises to recruit and retain attorneys, and in part on court changes that can reduce pressure on the docket.