Bernalillo County prosecutor David Waymire retires after nearly 30 years

David Waymire closed out nearly three decades at the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office with a retirement that underscored how deeply he had shaped New Mexico’s prosecution ranks. Current and former colleagues gathered to honor him as a “true legend” in the state’s legal community, and the Prosecutor’s Section of the State Bar of New Mexico gave him its first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award.

Waymire’s State Bar profile lists him as an active attorney with the Second Judicial District Attorney’s Office in Albuquerque, with an admission date of October 22, 1996 and a practice area in criminal law. That timeline places his career squarely inside one of the state’s busiest prosecution systems, where the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office says its team evaluates about 25,000 cases a year.

Those cases come in from law enforcement agencies including the Albuquerque Police Department, Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department and New Mexico State Police, making the office a central hub for public safety decisions across Bernalillo County and surrounding areas. The office’s Metro Court Division handles misdemeanor crimes, domestic violence cases, first- to third-offense DWI cases and shoplifting prosecutions, work that affects victims, defendants and court calendars every day.

Waymire’s departure comes under District Attorney Sam Bregman, who was appointed in January 2023 by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. Bregman, a seasoned litigator with nearly three decades of trial experience, now oversees an office that says it is focused on major issues including fentanyl, juvenile crime, domestic violence, DWI and shoplifting.

The State Bar’s annual awards are meant to recognize significant service and contributions to the legal profession and the public, and the new lifetime honor for prosecutors puts Waymire in rare company. His retirement removes a veteran presence from a system that depends on continuity, especially in a region where high-volume misdemeanor, DWI and domestic-violence cases can shape safety far beyond the city line.

For Bernalillo County and the surrounding metro area, the transition will test how well the office can preserve institutional memory while keeping pace with the daily caseload. Waymire’s exit marks the end of one long chapter, but the courtroom priorities he spent years helping define will remain on the front line.