AZTEC – A court official says a New Mexico district judge mistakenly kept the public from a hearing involving a New Mexico woman accused of forcing her children to watch her kill their pets.
The Farmington Daily Times reports an 11th Judicial District Court administrator said last week it was a mistake for a district judge to close a public hearing for Martha Crouch.
An Aug. 14 hearing at Aztec District Court on Crouch’s possible release was closed.
Eleventh Judicial Court executive officer Weldon Neff says District Judge Curtis Gurley viewed two of her cases as “inextricably” linked or impossible to separate and it was a mistake to close the public hearing.
A daughter told authorities the 54-year-old Crouch boiled puppies and poisoned a kitten as punishment.
She has pleaded not guilty.
