Sandoval County judge to resign, leaving child, domestic court vacancy

Judge Cheryl Johnston’s resignation will open a Sandoval County courtroom that handles some of the county’s most sensitive cases, from child and domestic relations disputes to juvenile matters and mental health hearings. The vacancy begins July 1, and the timing matters for parents, guardians, attorneys and agencies already waiting on orders that can affect homes, schools and safety planning.

The Sandoval County District Court in the Thirteenth Judicial District has exclusive domestic relations jurisdiction and exclusive juvenile jurisdiction, along with authority over mental health matters, administrative appeals and other district-court cases. It also runs programs tied directly to those cases, including mediation, domestic violence restraining orders at no cost, pre-trial services, court clinics, foreclosure settlement and family support services. In practice, that means Johnston’s seat is not just another judicial assignment. It sits at the center of family conflict, protection issues and court-ordered services that often move on tight timelines.

Johnston was retained in 2020, and public judicial-election records show her term was set to run through December 31, 2026. Her departure comes months before that term would have ended, leaving the Thirteenth Judicial District Court to manage a transition in a docket that serves a fast-growing county. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates Sandoval County’s population at 159,565 as of July 1, 2025, up from 148,834 in the 2020 census, adding pressure to a system already responsible for a substantial caseload.

The next judge will not be chosen by local election officials. Under New Mexico’s judicial vacancy process, a judicial nominating commission reviews applications, interviews candidates and recommends names to Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, who makes the appointment. A midterm district-court appointee then must stand in the next general election to keep the seat. That process puts a premium on experience with district-court work, especially in family, juvenile and protection matters where continuity can determine how quickly cases move.

The court’s own structure shows how much is riding on the vacancy. Commissioner Nancy Colella serves as the domestic violence hearing officer for Sandoval County, reflecting the broader courtroom support system around these cases. For people already in the pipeline, the next judge will inherit not only a docket, but a stream of hearings, orders and deadlines that cannot pause for long without affecting families across Rio Rancho, Bernalillo and the rest of Sandoval County.