In stories Nov. 11 and Oct. 27 about New Mexico Supreme Court rules aimed at expediting criminal cases, The Associated Press erroneously reported the timing of arraignments. The rules in question call for arraignments within 10 days, not 48 hours.
A corrected version of the story is below:
State high court to review timeline for criminal cases
New Mexico Supreme Court to review timeline for criminal cases after criticism
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The New Mexico Supreme Court will consider proposed changes to rules it set for Bernalillo County this year to help expedite criminal cases.
The court imposed rules in February to force the busy 2nd Judicial District Court to work through its backlog. The Supreme Court required prosecutors to share evidence upon which charges are based with defense lawyers at the time of arraignment, which can happen several days after an arrest. The cases must then be completed in 6 to 12 months.
The Albuquerque Journal reports (http://bit.ly/1kMzW9W) that the Bernalillo County Criminal Justice Oversight Committee has proposed changes to the rule that include doubling the time for police to provide initial evidence to prosecutors in some cases, and in turn for prosecutors to present evidence to defense attorneys, allowing arraignment to be delayed and starting the trial timeline after later hearings.
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