New Mexico’s U.S. senators and lone Republican member of the congressional delegation submitted names for New Mexico’s next U.S. Marshal and U.S. Attorney.
U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce sent the letters to President Trump and copies to the chair and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The positions are subject to Senate approval.
The U.S. Attorney position has been vacant for two months since the resignation of Damon Martinez. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions asked for the resignation of all U.S. Attorneys at that time, a standard practice at the start of a new presidential administration.
The legislators put forward former assistant U.S. Attorney John Anderson and current assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Federici for the vacant New Mexico U.S. Attorney position.
Anderson is currently an attorney with Holland & Hart, a Santa Fe law firm. Federici, perhaps most notably, prosecuted the case of Jamie Estrada, the former campaign manager for Gov. Susana Martinez who was convicted for stealing emails from Martinez’s 2010 campaign.
The names put forward by the three for U.S. Marshal includes Pete Kassetas, the New Mexico State Police chief and deputy secretary of the Department of Public Safety. His name is alongside Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal Larry Harper, Supervisory FBI Special Agent Sonya Chavez and Assistant Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal James Burrell.
