By KRWG News
Las Cruces, NM – ALBUQUERQUE. (KRWG) Special Prosecutor Matt Chandler says he will ask a judge Friday to order the arrest of a Las Cruces judge indicted on bribery and intimidation charges.
An affidavit seeking the arrest of state District Judge Michael Murphy was filed after he was indicted last week but all the local judges recused themselves.
Retired Magistrate Leslie Smith has been assigned to the case, and Chandler said today that he will ask him to order the arrest of Murphy during the first hearing in the case on Friday morning.
Murphy is accused of telling a potential judicial candidate she needed to make payments to a Democratic activist if she wanted a seat on the bench. The indictment further alleges a system under which such payments were funneled to former Gov. Bill Richardson
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. KRWG