Judge Kent Wingenroth of Las Cruces, NM; ethical troll

The Judicial Standards Commission found Johnny  guilty of the following misconduct.

Former Gov. Bill Richardson was duped into appointing Kent as a Dona Ana County Magistrate Court Division 5 judge in 2006. Kent didn’t get the appointment because he was the most qualified person in the greater Las Cruces area. He received the appointment because he had proven to be a reliable lackey for the local political hacks.

The Judicial Standards Commission found Judge Wingenroth guilty of the following misconduct.

• Personally participated in the solicitation of funds or other prohibited fund-raising activities for the Super Bowl Golf Fore Baseball Tournament
• Used the prestige of judicial office for fund-raising and/or created the appearance that he had done so
• Following the Super Bowl Golf Fore Baseball Tournament, Robert Jaurequi, a juvenile probation officer, was arrested for Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) by
• the New Mexico State Police
• Even though Johnny was not the designated on-call Las Cruces Magistrate Judge for February 2011, the State Police Dispatch erroneously informed Officer Mike
• Ramirez that Respondent was the on-call judge
• Officer Ramirez called Johnny to request judicial authority to release the defendant on his own recognizance
• Johnny made a judicial ruling in the Jaurequi case in which he was a potential witness
• Johnny took judicial action in defendant Robert Jaurequi’s case when Respondent’s home had received phone calls from the defendant’s family prior to Johnny’s action ordering that he be released on his own recognizance
• Engaged in willful misconduct in office

As a direct consequence of his misconduct, the cheerleaders for Judicial Misfits sitting on the New Mexico Supreme Court punished Judge Wingenroth by gifting her with a complimentary censure.

As we speak (ca. December 2018), Johnny continues to sit as a Dona Ana County Magistrate Court Division 5 judge in Las Cruces, New Mexico.