Douglas Driggers

Douglas R. Driggers, a Third Judicial District Court judge in Las Cruces, New Mexico, has twice drawn formal state action over his handling of criminal cases. In 2021, the New Mexico Supreme Court removed Driggers from a deadly child abuse trial after finding he had abused his power by barring prosecutors from using key evidence. Separately, in May 2024, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed a petition against Driggers alleging he violated the state's Victims of Crime Act: in the case of former Las Cruces High School teacher Patrick Howard, who had pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a female student, Driggers terminated the remainder of Howard's probation early without notifying the victim of the hearing as required by law. The New Mexico Supreme Court sent the matter back to Driggers to reconsider, but Driggers stood by his original decision.