Governor names replacement for Santa Fe judge charged with DWI

Jul. 7—Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has appointed prosecutor Morgan Wood to fill a vacancy on the Santa Fe County Magistrate Court created by the recent resignation of Dev Atma Khalsa, a former magistrate who faces a DWI charge.

"It's very humbling because we had so many applicants, and you couldn't pick a bad one," said Wood, one of 10 people who applied to replace Khalsa, who stepped down in May.

She'll undergo 80 hours of judicial training before assuming the bench later this month, according to a statement from the Governor's Office.

As Khalsa's replacement as the Division 2 judge on the Magistrate Court, she'll preside over traffic violations, drunken driving cases, felony preliminary hearings and landlord disputes.

"I'm excited to work for Santa Fe County, and I hope everybody gives me an opportunity to just be a good judge," Wood said in an interview Friday, shortly after the Governor's Office announced her appointment.

Wood, 49, worked as a public defender for more than a decade before joining the First Judicial District Attorney's Office as a Children's Court prosecutor about three years ago. A lawsuit she filed in 2020 says she was fired from the New Mexico Law Offices of the Public Defender that year after she raised concerns about unequal pay for women.

Her application for the Magistrate Court position says she was born in Fort Collins, Colo., and received her bachelor's degree from Tulane University in New Orleans in 1996 and law degree from the University of Denver's College of Law in 2004.

Wood wrote in her application she became a lawyer because she loves listening to people's stories. Her curiosity about people would make her a good judge "because I have both an interest and a skepticism about people, and would bring that enthusiasm to the bench," she wrote.

She also highlighted her "devotion to public service" and "extensive track record in working for the community," including experience in supervisory positions.

She wrote, "At all times in the community, a judge is, honestly, judged. To maintain the confidence in our courts, judges must always be aware that the eyes of the community are on them."

Wood worked for the statewide Law Offices of the Public Defender in Aztec from 2005 to 2011 and in the agency's Santa Fe office from 2011 to 2020, according to her application.

She began as a trial attorney and was later a managing attorney and the district defender for the agency's offices in Santa Fe, Rio Arriba, Los Alamos and Taos counties.

Wood's lawsuit against the Law Offices of the Public Defender alleged violations of the Fair Pay for Women Act, the state Human Rights Act and the Whistleblower Protection Act, according to court records and reports from the time. She alleged she was paid significantly less than a male counterpart and faced retaliation after raising concerns about gender-based pay inequities and supporting colleagues who did the same.

When she was identified as a potential witness in a similar case filed by another attorney, she was demoted in 2019 and then fired in 2020, according to her complaint.

Wood's lawsuit referred to a 2018 study that revealed a gender pay gap existed at the agency and was known to the Public Defender Commission — which oversees and sets standards for the office — and Chief Public Defender Bennett Baur.

Five other female employees who sued the Public Defender's Office over gender-based pay disparities in 2018 also cited the study, claiming it showed "all female attorneys are paid less than male attorneys working for the office."

The agency paid $450,000 to settle the women's complaint, according to documents posted on the state's Sunshine Portal.

The First Judicial District Court administratively closed Wood's lawsuit in 2021 due to inactivity and later ordered a 2022 refiling be closed for the same reason, records show.

Wood filed a motion seeking to have the case reopened in December, citing in part the coronavirus pandemic and her attorney's "family and medical issues" as reasons for the inactivity.

There has been no action in the case since then.

Wood said in the interview Friday there won't be any further action.

"My attorney didn't follow through with it, so I directed him to not pursue it," she said. "It would be a big distraction, especially now."

Khalsa was elected to a four-year term in November in an uncontested race after winning the Democratic primary in June. After Wood completes Khalsa's term, which officially began in January, she will be required to win election to the post if she wants to stay on the bench.

She said Friday she's never campaigned for public office but would do so if she feels she's doing a good job. She added she expects others — including those who ran against Khalsa for the Democratic Party nomination and applied to replace him — also will campaign.

Khalsa was ordered off the bench the day after his DWI arrest in late February and stepped down in May as part of an agreement with the Judicial Standards Commission that called for him resign and never seek judicial office again. In exchange, the commission dropped a pending disciplinary case against him.

Santa Fe police arrested Khalsa Feb. 26 after responding to a report of a single-vehicle rollover crash on northbound Interstate 25 at the St. Francis Drive exit.

Officers arrived to find him sitting atop his silver Toyota 4Runner, which had left the roadway and come to rest on its driver's side in a ditch, according to police reports and dashboard camera video.

The investigating officer reported Khalsa had an odor of an alcoholic beverage emitting from his breath and noticeably slurred speech. His driver's license had expired two days before.

A status hearing in his criminal case is scheduled next week in Santa Fe Municipal Court.