CFJ was invited to take part in a multi-state rally, to be held in front of the Bernalillo County District Courthouse on March 11, 2005. The focus of the rally was to support non-custodial parents, specifically focusing on the Trevino case in which Judge Walker demanded thousands of dollars in child support from a father who was medically incapable of fathering a child. The rally was advertised on Albuquerque radio stations in advance.

The week prior to the rally, Carol Ward joined CFJ as a new member, claiming that her daughter had a custody case before Judge Walker and that Carol was involved in it. Carol showed up just prior to the rally, having made business cards for CFJ but with her personal telephone number on them. CFJ rejected the business cards. Unbeknownst to CFJ, Carol had also created her own "flyers" that were not CFJ's flyers.

The rally was very crowded, with about 50 persons in attendance along with the local media. Near the end of the rally, out-of-state organizer Richard Farr (of krightsradio) and Carol Wade asked CFJ President Leslie Cumiford to accompany them inside the courthouse to Judge Walker's office. Leslie refused, stating that she needed to stay outside with the rally and encouraging Richard and Carol to ask directions inside at the information desk. When the rally was over, all remaining items (sunscreen, CFJ pamphlets, and everything else laying around) were scooped up and shoved into a plastic grocery bag.

The next day, Saturday, was a CFJ Pro Se session. Leslie was leading the meeting. Carol Ward was in attendance, and her cell phone rang in the middle of the meeting. She interrupted the meeting and handed her phone to Leslie, claiming that the Albuquerque Journal's Jim Belshaw was on the telephone. Leslie took the phone and Jim Belshaw demanded to know about the "flyer" handed out at the CFJ rally. He quoted from it to her - sentences about Judge Walker dying and watching her children dying slowly. Leslie quickly stated, "The Center for Family Justice does not condone any sort of violence and believes in using only legal means to address problems in the family court."

Jim Belshaw published an article in the Albuquerque Journal the next day quoting from the flyer Carol Ward created. He never mentioned Carol's involvement, but stated that CFJ was one of the organizers of the event. Obviously he knew Carol was involved since he called her telephone in order to catch CFJ by surprise during their Saturday meeting. He repeatedly misquoted CFJ President Leslie Cumiford and implied at the end of his article that CFJ condoned violence - just the opposite of the main point Leslie made when he accosted her by telephone.

Later research on www.nmcourts.com revealed the following about Carol Ward's daughter's case. Here are the main facts that can be gleaned from the case history. As a grandparent, Judge Walker gave Carol timesharing with her granddaughter just three days prior to the rally (3/8/05). Incredibly, Walker did so nine days prior to Carol's entry of appearance in the case as an intervenor (3/17/05)! Within days, both attorneys withdrew from the case (3/21/05). The father filed a domestic violence case against Carol Ward (3/16/05) arising from the visitation, and Judge Angela Jewell dismissed the case the same day it was filed without a hearing. Can you guess why both judges bent over backwards, so to speak, for Carol in and around the time of our rally where she deposited her threatening flyer?

Leslie received a call from Officer Curtis Sanchez of the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department, claiming that he needed to investigate. Leslie and the CFJ Board met with Sanchez, who flashed his badge and asked questions for about an hour. Both Officer Sanchez and CFJ recorded the meeting. Sanchez accepted items as evidence but did not provide evidence tags. Leslie attempted to call him a few days later to request evidence tags, but the Sheriff's office at first stated that Sanchez did not work there. After a long pause, the receptionist finally said that Sanchez was part of the courthouse guard detail.

Sanchez began stalking one of the CFJ members, Terri White, and talking to her neighbors. Finally, he contacted her and said that he was investigating. She met with Sanchez, along with two CFJ Board members. The conversation was once again openly recorded by both sides. During the meeting, Sanchez was confronted by a CFJ Board member, stating that Sanchez did not work for the investigative unit of the Sheriff's Department. At first, Sanchez tried to cover himself by claiming that they sometimes pull other officers in to help. But finally, when directly confronted with the question, "Who told you to do this investigation?" he admitted the truth, "Judge Walker did."

Interestingly, Curtis Sanchez had an active case with Judge Walker at the time. (A fact he never disclosed to CFJ - we found it on www.nmcourts.com. In addition, Sanchez had a hearing scheduled with Judge Walker for only a couple of weeks from the time he performed the questioning, and issues of custody and time sharing were involved. As soon as he made his admission, Judge Walker recused from the case and MALDEF Judge Ernesto Romero took over the case. When Sheriff Darren White was later informed of the fact that one of his employees, a courthouse guard, impersonated an investigator while hiding a serious conflict of interest, he refused to investigate or even to accept evidence from CFJ regarding the matter.

Judge Walker, like Anne Kass before her and Nan Nash afterward, got a two for one in this little feat. She attempted to squelch negative publicity about her courtroom antics in destroying families (including that of Leslie Cumiford) and at the same time engendered the sympathy of the public because of the alleged threat. Leslie avoided serious charges of threatening a judge only because she refused to accompany Farr and Ward into the courthouse and because CFJ discovered that both Ward and Sanchez were litigants appearing before Walker, Sanchez was a guard, not an investigator, and Walker put Sanchez up to the "investigation". Judge Walker appears to have rewarded Ward for setting up CFJ by granting her visitation. Judge Jewell, the domestic violence judge, appears to have reinforced the reward by ignoring claims of domestic violence without a hearing.

Therefore, CFJ President Leslie Cumiford faxed a letter to Chief Judge Lang and Court Administrator Juanita Duran, describing the problem, the bias inherent in the clerks' actions, and the violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the misuse of the public courthouse which was funded by public tax money. No response was received. Leslie stated that a CFJ team would be at the clerks' office to continue their research and that she trusted the Chief Judge would resolve the problem.

What happened the next day was appalling. Multiple armed guards were called to the clerks' office, and Leslie was threatened with arrest if she did not step about five feet to the left while reviewing a court docket file. One of our members was on crutches and they refused to let him sit at the table. Clerks were screaming and threatening. Guards were making ridiculous demands. Citizens in the clerks' office were stunned. Finally, Judge Nan Nash joined in the fray, yelling and screaming at Leslie and CFJ Board member Lee Kittell. Leslie and Lee quietly stood their ground. They quietly asked for a written policy, and none could be produced. They were told it was a "verbal policy". (There is no such thing under the law.) Bernalillo County Sheriff Deputy and courhouse guard Cordova demanded that Leslie stand up and move five feet to the counter. He threatened arrest. Leslie stated that her tax money paid for the courthouse and the public table and absent a policy, it was not lawful for her to be threatened with arrest for sitting at a public table in a public building that was there for the express purpose of reviewing public docket files. An affidavit prepared by a witness and CFJ member describes the circus. Sheriff Darren White did not lift a finger to address this travesty of justice and clear unwarranted threat to a group that was systematically uncovering judicial and court cottage industry sins in its research project. Neither did Chief Judge William Lang.