Court upholds attorney's suspension

SANTA FE — In an occasionally blistering 27-page opinion filed Thursday, the Supreme Court of New Mexico adopted findings last year from the disciplinary board ordering the indefinite suspension of Portales attorney Eric Dixon’s law license.

The court said “Dixon’s conduct was, at best, extremely careless and sloppy” and “became increasingly deceptive” regarding a fictitious plaintiff erroneously named in a federal lawsuit against the Roosevelt County Detention Center.

Dixon named a male inmate Jessie Aguilar as one of 10 individuals seeking damages from a 2013 incident at the jail, said the opinion, when in fact there was no such individual there at that time.

“Had Dixon simply acknowledged and explained the confusion in the Federal Lawsuit, he would have avoided much of the trouble that has followed,” said the opinion. “Dixon pushed harder and harder on that tenuous narrative until he knowingly made a statement that was demonstrably false...”

The suspension is to last no less than nine months, effective early last month. Before being eligible for reinstatement, he must pay the cost of his disciplinary proceedings, take 10 hours of ethics continuing legal education classes and pass the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination. He must also demonstrate to the court and the disciplinary board that he has the “moral qualifications” to resume practicing law.

“A lawyer who makes false statements, tells half-truths, and otherwise attempts to mislead harms the legal system and the legal profession,” said the opinion. “We must demand better from each other. Dixon’s suspension serves as a reminder of the importance of a lawyer’s duty of candor.”

The court said the indefinite suspension was appropriate “for Dixon due not only to the intentional, harmful nature of his conduct in this proceeding, but also to his prior discipline,” referring to a public censure for a 2011 incident in which he honked his car horn “in a manner designed to frighten and harass” a judge in the 9th Judicial District.

Dixon could not be reached for comment. Defense attorney Gary Mitchell, representing Dixon in the matter, said he hoped Dixon could put the issue behind him and get back to work soon.

“Poor people and the disenfranchised lost a true advocate,” Mitchell said in a message to The News. “Hopefully (Dixon) will work out, meet the obligations set and be back.”