Behind the scenes of the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The Metropolitan Court of Bernalillo County had another packed docket Saturday morning.

 “We are the busiest courthouse in the state. We see more than every other courthouse does, from the traffic tickets to the misdemeanor cases and the initial felony cases that are filed here,” said Metropolitan Court Chief Judge Joshua Sanchez.

Sanchez says the court oversees about 100 cases a day and Saturday New Mexico’s top judge, Chief Justice David Thomson of the New Mexico Supreme Court, got a firsthand look at the court’s caseload.

Sanchez says he welcomes the visit.

“We go to these statewide meetings, and they hear about how things happen. But until you actually kind of sit there with another judge and see what happens, it’s kind of eye-opening to see the kind of controlled chaos that we have on a Saturday morning,” he said about the visit.

He adds their biggest challenge at Metro Court is the case load.

Thomson says he plans to visit courts statewide to see these challenges for himself.

“I think it’s a good idea just to come down and see it. And what you see, if you watch these, is you see all the interactions between what we face, just not as a court system, as a society, right?” said Sanchez.

Just from one morning sitting in on court proceedings, he said it’s clear mental health plays a huge part in a lot of the cases metro court hears.

“If there are questions of competency, we can catch those questions here, rather when they get transferred to felony court, that’s one, can they be assessed early on,” Thomson said.

He also noticed a lot of repeat offenders.

“I think it’s very helpful to see it firsthand. On a few of these individuals. I’ve actually asked to look at some of the criminal history, so I have an understanding of the particulars,” said Thomson.

Sanchez said he hopes for more visits like this in the future.

“It’s just nice to give some real perspective and validates, I think, a lot of the things that we do communicate to AOC and the Supreme Court and things that we’re seeing,” said Thomson.