Grady graduate Curry's new prosecutor
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Cops and courts
The 9th Judicial District Attorney’s office has hired a former Texico municipal judge to become the office’s newest prosecutor.
Rick Queener, a 1984 graduate of Grady High School who has also served on the Texico City Council, is a graduate of Texas Tech University School of Law, where he earned his law degree and a masters degree in financial planning, a press release from the district attorney’s office said. He has passed the Texas state bar exam and began working in Curry County on May 10 with a limited license to practice in New Mexico until he takes the New Mexico state bar exam in July.
Queener will handle juvenile, misdemeanor, and third- and fourth-degree felony cases, the press release said.
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The pretrial conference for Dominic Murphy, accused in the Feb. 28, 2003, shooting deaths of Alex Rodriguez and Wesley Griest, had been set for Tuesday but has been rescheduled for 9 a.m. on June 25 with Judge Joe Parker.
In a pretrial conference, the attorneys indicate to the judge whether they are ready to proceed with the trial.
Murphy’s trial is set for Aug. 10.
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District court Judge Stephen Quinn announced Thursday he has set a hearing date for the open records lawsuit filed by the Clovis News Journal seeking access to salary data from Curry County.
The hearing will begin at 9 a.m. on Dec. 14 and the judge has reserved a full day to try the case on its merits.
The Clovis News Journal filed its lawsuit March 9, arguing the county attorney was using an inaccurate interpretation of the New Mexico Public Records Act to justify withholding county pay records.
The county has since released the records requested, but newspaper officials are seeking attorneys’ fees and a judgment for future clarification.
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The 2005 budget recently received in the 9th Judicial District Attorney’s Office includes funding for a new full-time victim advocate position in Roosevelt County, a request District Attorney Brett Carter made to the state legislature in January.
A press release from Carter’s office said the victim advocate position will be created July 1, 2005.
Cops and Courts is compiled by CNJ staff writer Darrell Todd Maurina. He can be contacted at 763-6991 or:
