The New Mexico Supreme Court has publicly censured a state judge in Las Cruces for providing advice to prosecutors during a 2021 trial of a man accused of pointing an assault rifle at the judge’s daughter. Third District Judge James Martin also was censured for having an inappropriate conversation with the prosecutors after Robert Burnham was convicted of aggravated assault by use of a firearm and for allowing his daughter to wait in his chambers before she testified at the trial, which another judge presided over. The Supreme Court said Martin “denied committing willful misconduct” but in hindsight, "recognizes the potential for appearance of impropriety based upon his conduct.”
