By Frost McGahey
(Photo from Attorney General’s website)
On November 13 Attorney General Raul Torrez once again tried to badger Sixth Judicial District Judge Jarod Hofacket into reinstating parts of the AG's lawsuit against Dr. Shepard. In a previous Beat article*, the weaknesses of the AG's original lawsuit were listed by Dr. Shepard's attorney. Earlier the judge dismissed parts of the lawsuit in August. But now the AG is trying to get them reinstated.
Shepard's attorney is arguing that a reconsideration of a judge's order should only come under one of three scenarios — a change in fact, a change in law, or to correct errors. Since this hasn't occurred, the AG's request should be ignored.
In reading the state attorney's argument for reopening the parts of the case dismissed, it appears that the state merely wants to harass Dr. Shepard. Is that because Shepard filed a civil RICO** lawsuit against people Santa Fe wants to protect?
Shepard's lawsuit states: This case is based upon strong evidence of conspiracy, collusion, and collaboration among the highest members of the NM state government to cover up criminal wrongdoing by former and current state senators.
Named in the lawsuit are Joseph Maestas (state auditor), Mimi Stewart and George Munoz, (state senators), WNMU, John Wertheim (WNMU regent), and Siah Correa Hemphill (former state senator).
Alleged in the lawsuit is that Shepard confronted Munoz and Hemphill for the $1Million they gave to Aldo Leopold Charter School for experiential learning without disclosing Hemphill's children attended there. (WNMU did not receive the $4 million that Shepherd had requested.)That confrontation caused the powerful in the NM leadership to come after him.
Shepard provided significant evidence of Hemphill's fraud to: Torrez, the NM attorney general, the State Ethics Commission, Joseph Maestas, state auditor, and the Higher Education Department. But none investigated. Instead they targeted the former president.
Also alleged is that the Grisham administration saw an opportunity to take out Shepard as president and install Lt. Governor Howie Morales as WNMU president. With Morales not running for governor that would increase the chances of another Democrat winning the 2026 gubernatorial campaign. If Morales did run, he could possibly split the vote and thus allow a different candidate not of Santa Fe's choosing to win.
To be continued …
Has the Political Witchhunt against Dr. Shepard Stalled? (grantcountybeat.com)
AG: Judge should reinstate parts of WNMU-Shepard suit - Silvercity Daily Press (scdailypress.com)
**RICO stands for Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act to sue for damages caused by a pattern of organized illegal activity. It allows private citizens to seek damages from individuals engaged in a wide range of "racketeering activities," such as fraud, extortion, or embezzlement. A plaintiff must prove the defendants conducted a pattern of at least two related "predicate acts" of racketeering within a 10-year period.
