A former state senator is petitioning for a citizen grand jury to indict Seventh Judicial District Court Judge Shannon Murdock on charges of vehicular homicide in Torrance County.
Billy Weinman was killed and his friend Karl Baumgartner was injured when the pair was hit by Murdock’s vehicle while bicycling home to the town of Mountainair. In a civil suit, Murdock admitted that “she negligently operated her vehicle.” She ultimately paid a fee for a traffic fine but was not indicted on criminal charges.
Shannon Robinson is a former Albuquerque lawyer who served in the New Mexico Senate from 1989 to 2009. Robinson was disbarred in New Mexico in 2022. He is seeking to petition a citizen grand jury to bring charges against Murdock.
“I’ve been to Mountainair a lot and I’ve had a lot of cases in Mountainair. I have biker friends, and it just stuck in my craw,” Robinson said. He said he is working on the petition alone and has not had contact with the victims’ families.
The Independent reached out to Murdock for comment but did not hear back as of press time.
Citizen grand jury
According to the New Mexico Constitution, a district court is required to order a grand jury to convene “on the filing of a petition to investigate criminal conduct or malfeasance” if a petition is signed by at least 200 registered voters or 2% of the registered voters in that county, whichever is greater. Torrance County has 10,202 registered voters, making the local threshold just 202 voter signatures.
Michael Stout is a criminal defense attorney in Las Cruces, and he said getting a citizen grand jury to indict someone isn’t an easy process. “Citizen grand juries are rare,” Stout told The Independent. “And it’s even more rare for them to be able to bring charges and ultimately have someone convicted on those charges.”
He explained that the court would need to appoint a prosecutor to guide the grand jury through the process, which oftentimes might be the district attorney who already argued or settled the case. Stout said an independent counsel could also be appointed.
“It’s a well-intentioned thing to have citizens involved in the process and have them heard. The way they are heard more often than not is through the ballot.”
A morning bike ride
On Sept. 21, 2019, Weinman and Baumgartner were riding east on U.S. Route 60 between Abo and Mountainair.
Murdock was returning from a work event she had attended in Socorro. She was driving her personal vehicle.
According to court documents, a witness said she saw Murdock driving erratically and swerving in and out of her lane on northbound I-25 before both turned east on Route 60.
According to court documents, as the bicyclists rode, there were three vehicles in a row behind them, with Murdock’s car pulling up the rear. Two of the vehicles moved to the left to avoid the drivers. Murdock did not slow down and hit both cyclists from behind. Weinman died on scene and Baumgartner was transported to the hospital with multiple injuries.
The estate of Weinman and Baumgartner filed a lawsuit against Murdock and the Seventh Judicial District Court (SJDC) for personal injury and wrongful death. Murdock settled for $50,000 and admitted that “she negligently operated her vehicle.” The SJDC was ordered to pay over $947,000.
The SJDC appealed the ruling, saying Murdock’s attendance at the event was “extrajudicial activity” – and not part of her job as a judge. The SJDC also argued that even if Murdock was acting within her duties as a judge during the event, she was not when she traveled to and from the event.
The appeals court sided with the district court judgment. Now, the SJDC is asking the state Supreme Court to review the case.
“They’re looking for a full-blown review of the legal opinion,” said Daniel O’Brien, Murdock’s attorney in the civil case. “It’s likely that they’d like a review of whether or not the state can be held liable for all employees’ actions that are outside of their regular job duties.”
Robinson is currently collecting signatures for his grand jury petition. As a part of his collection effort, he paid for copies of the petition and instructions to be inserted into this week’s issue of The Independent as an advertisement. Only registered Torrance County voters may sign and return it. The deadline for Robinson to file the petition is Sept. 21.