ALBUQUERQUE – District attorney and public defender offices for metro Albuquerque are reviewing cases handled by a now-former prosecutor who wasn’t properly licensed to practice law in New Mexico.
District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Brandale Mills Cox said the New Mexico State Bar notified the office on Dec. 8 that a clerical error occurred after Brian Jeffries applied to both reinstate his inactive New Mexico law license and to obtain a limited license available to prosecutors licensed in another state.
Mills Cox told the Albuquerque Journal in an email that the District Attorney’s Office then removed Jeffries from all cases and launched an internal investigation and that Jeffries resigned on Dec. 11.
Mills Cox said only nine of the cases in which Jeffries participated could be substantively affected by the licensing problem and that it won’t affect the office’s ability to prosecute those cases.
However, Jennifer Barela, the Albuquerque district defender, said dozens of cases that Jeffries helped handle could be affected and were being reviewed.
The Journal said it was unable to reach Jeffries for comment.
