ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - New Mexico prosecutors said Friday they intend to seek stiffer penalties against embattled Secretary of State Dianna Duran under a state law that pertains to public officials accused of wrongdoing.
Duran has pleaded not guilty to 64 counts stemming from allegations that she embezzled some $13,000 in campaign contributions from supporters and filed false campaign finance reports.
The notice regarding the penalty enhancement was among a series of court filings made Friday by the state attorney general’s office.
Prosecutors also charged Duran with identity theft and fired back at her attorney for seeking to have the attorney general’s office removed from trying the case.
Erlinda Johnson, Duran’s attorney, had not seen the court filings and had no comment.
The attorney general’s office declined to comment on the latest round of filings, saying only that it was focused on preparing for an upcoming preliminary hearing.
Under state law, public officials convicted of felonies related to their office could face additional fines not to exceed the amount of pay and fringe benefits received after the commission of the crime. In Duran’s case, if convicted, that could be close to a half-million dollars.
Duran has resisted pressure from Democrats and Republicans to resign from her $85,000-a-year job.
However, a bipartisan committee of state lawmakers has cleared the way for the hiring of a special lawyer to investigate the allegations against Duran as part of possible impeachment proceedings.
The secretary of state’s office is responsible for enforcing campaign finance reporting and elections laws.
According to the criminal complaint accusing Duran of identity theft, the two-term Republican secretary of state listed a former state lawmaker as treasurer of her campaign without his knowledge.
The complaint details an interview that investigators had with Don Kidd about his name being used on several reports Duran filed as part of her 2010 campaign.
Kidd, who previously served with Duran during her tenure in the state Senate and is now chief executive of Western Commerce Bank in southeastern New Mexico, told investigators he had nothing to do with the campaign other than making a donation.
The complaint also stated that a review by investigators found over 100 transactions totaling more than $10,000 in 2010 within bank statements but not listed as campaign expenditures. Those included transactions at casinos, restaurants, jewelry stores and cash withdrawals at ATMs.
Prosecutors said in court documents they also plan to present evidence that Duran misrepresented finances in tax returns between 2010 and 2013.
Johnson, who has maintained her client’s innocence, previously filed a motion seeking to have the attorney general’s office thrown off the case. She argued that state Attorney General Hector Balderas has a conflict of interest because he and Duran have disagreed in the past and that he seems to have a vendetta against Duran.
Balderas’ office dismissed that claim in a response filed with the court Friday and accused Duran’s defense of “prosecution shopping.”
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