New Mexico: DWI attorney John Higgins charged with being drunk in courtroom; has prior DUI

From ABQ Journal
Albuquerque DWI attorney John W. Higgins was taken into custody at Metro Court on Wednesday after he allegedly showed up drunk in
Chief Judge Julie Altwies’ courtroom – the wrong one, it turns out, because his hearings were actually two floors below.

Altwies summoned a probation officer about 10 a.m. to test Higgins’ blood-alcohol content – it registered 0.11 – after Higgins had been in the courtroom for about 45 minutes and stumbled getting up. The presumed level of intoxication in New Mexico is 0.08 percent.

He was taken into custody for alleged direct contempt of court.

Higgins, 69, had no appearances before Altwies, however, though he did have settings before two other judges on the fifth floor.

Altwies told him she was concerned about his safety, and other defense attorneys in the courtroom assisted him until he was taken away by court security officers. He was scheduled for a hearing this morning on the contempt charge, but it was unclear Wednesday whether he would be able to attend.

Tom Clear, an attorney who was in the courtroom at the time, said he believed Higgins had something medically wrong based on Higgins’ extreme confusion, which he said was more than expected based on the blood-alcohol test results.

“He wasn’t making a lot of sense,” ….MORE