Macias becomes DA amid crime panic

Fernando Macias has a lot of expectations coming into 2025. 

Some of those expectations are his own — his plans to reshape and rebuild a district attorney's office that’s been consistently scrutinized for nearly a decade — but most come from the outside. 

On the 2024 campaign trail, some voters called for the new DA to take a compassionate view of criminal justice, desiring more reliance on diversion than incarceration. Others called for the exact opposite: a crackdown on Las Cruces residents accused of crime and an iron fist in sentencing. But everyone said they wanted to see less crime.

“I know what those expectations are,” Macias told the Las Cruces Bulletin during a recent interview, “because I've been working on this job since the day after the election.”

Macias officially assumed the role on Jan. 3. He brought eight prosecutors with him, bolstering the depleted office ranks to 16 attorneys. He’s still short of reaching “fully staffed” at 20 prosecutors. 

Macias also pointed out that all eight new prosecutors are lawyers with local experience. Macias chose them over newly minted lawyers.

“I'm not looking, at least initially, for people just coming out of law school, and then having to groom them, because the history of that is that you groom them for a couple of years, then they go off to where they can make a better salary or have a higher title,” he said.

According to statistics Macias provided to the Bulletin, those lawyers will have nearly 3,200 cases split between them, with about 2,400 cases in “warrant status,” as when a party is arrested and booked on a warrant. They’ll also be tasked with reviewing 700 dismissed cases from the previous administration. Macias said he wants to know if any can be refiled. 

At the same time, Macias is reorganizing the office into divisions that respond to categories of crime instead of silos of attorneys. 

“We're looking at a massive amount of work that has gone unattended for quite some time now in order to create what I refer to as a baseline,” Macias said. “Where are we at today?”

However, alleviating crime through prosecution is only one of the many expectations of Macias’ office. The last administration was also criticized for its lack of transparency – something Macias has promised to reverse. 

“That's why I'm trying to create a baseline. I want the public to know where we are at today. What is really the challenge? Then I want to be able to report to them in six months in terms of, okay, these are the changes that have been implemented,” he said. 

Specifically, Macias said the DA’s office will start regularly reporting information about case backlogs to the public. That information will include data about the timeliness of cases, changes in policy and timelines for certain cases. 

Macias also said he plans to host more news conferences, something that his predecessor, Gerald Byers, moved away from for most of his four-year term. Lastly, Macias said that new public information will play a key role in disseminating information to portions of the public that get information through non-traditional channels. 

“Part of my goal is to use social media to try to discourage crime in the community. I need people to know the consequences of violating the law. I need for us to be able to target forums that cater to younger people, especially so that they can see that there are ongoing consequences,” he said. 

As the dust settles from Macias’ reprioritizations and reorganization, the office will focus on cracking down on people who have committed multiple crimes. 

Macias' office's top priorities will be harsher sentences, quicker prosecution, and better awareness of “habitual offenders” when they reach the criminal justice system. 

“The system hasn't contributed to an effective and efficient criminal justice system, and I'm going to try to do everything that I can to bring those greater efficiencies to the successful prosecution of cases,” he said.