Judge Murphy arrested on new bribery charge



Michael Murphy

From NM Politics.net - by Heath Haussamen - Third Judicial District Judge Mike Murphy, already indicted on bribery charges and suspended from the bench, was arrested this morning on a new bribery charge. Murphy was arrested at 8:45 a.m. and booked into the Doña Ana County Detention Center on a $10,000 unsecured bond. He’s facing a new felony charge of bribery of a public officer or public employee. Murphy has bonded out of jail and was released just after 10:30 a.m. Special prosecutor Matt Chandler, whose office filed the charges, said Murphy is alleged to have offered “several promises” to District Judge Lisa Schultz in December 2010 if she would agree to be the tie-breaking vote to make Douglas R. Driggers the chief district judge in Las Cruces. Chandler said prosecutors have an audio recording of the conversation between Schultz and Murphy. Read more

Judge Murphy arrested on new bribery charge