Secretary of state pleads not guilty to fraud, embezzlement charges; has no comment after court

Secretary of State Dianna Duran pleaded not guilty to charges of fraud, embezzlement and money laundering at her arraignment in District Court in Santa Fe Tuesday.

Eighteen days ago, New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas filed 64 charges against Duran, accusing her of withdrawing hundreds of thousands of dollars of campaign funds to pay off casino debts. Duran has not showed up to work since those charges were announced.

Duran sat silent and solemn and let her lawyer do the talking in court. Judge Glenn Ellington shot down attempts by her lawyer, Erlinda Johnson, to have the charges dismissed, or at least get a delay in the preliminary hearing that will determine whether Duran will stand trial.

“They’ve had over a year to prepare,” defense lawyer Erlinda Johnson complained about the prosecution. “Obviously they were prepared. I just received this discovery last week – talk about an ambush! I would respectfully request, Your Honor, that the court would extend the deadline.”

“60 days is plenty of time for any attorney to become adequately advised as to what the allegations are,” said assistant Attorney General Joe Spindle. “We think that there is no reason to extend it further out than that.”

The judge agreed with the prosecution: preliminary hearing within 45 days, to be completed by the end of the first week in December. Prosecutors said they will need about a week to present the case against the Secretary of State. Johnson said it was too early for the defense to provide an estimate for how much time they will need.

Duran will be released on her own recognizance. Her conditions of release include no drugs or alcohol and she cannot leave New Mexico unless it is for state business.

Duran and her attorney had no comment after leaving court Tuesday, despite being peppered with questions from KOB reporter Chris Ramirez.

Duran’s attorney released a statement about the case Monday, saying no one should jump to conclusions.

“We have just been served with the complaint and information filed by the State Attorney General’s Office.  We can say that in reviewing the complaint, we have identified some serious potential violations of law by the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office, in conducting the investigation,” Johnson wrote in a statement. “We hope this is not a politically motivated case and that the attorney general is not engaging in a selective prosecution of a political adversary. We ask the public to not jump to conclusions and we look forward to addressing the allegations in Court.”

A special committee of state legislators met Tuesday and decided it would proceed with impeachment proceedings against Duran.

KOB’s Elizabeth Reed, Stuart Dyson and Chris Ramirez contributed to this report.