Albuquerque lawyer claims false statements implicated him in DWI scheme
Mar 17, 2025
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – The latest person implicated in the DWI Dismissal Scheme is fighting back. In a written reply to the New Mexico Supreme Court one week after the state's disciplinary board moved to suspend attorney Rudolph 'Rudy' Chavez's law license, Chavez is saying they have no evid
ence. He said the one drunk driving case the state used to conclude he was involved in the public corruption scandal has zero features of the scandal and he said two of the key players who mentioned that case to federal investigators gave false statements.
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In lapel footage from the case, then-Albuquerque police officer Honorio Alba Jr. is on the side of I-25 with the man he just pulled over. He had the driver perform a number of field sobriety tests before arresting him for driving drunk. On a phone call last week, the driver told KRQE Investigative Reporter Ann Pierret that a Google search led him to hire attorney Chavez.
Chavez pointed out that that doesn't add up with how the scheme operated. From confessions so far, the officer or attorney Thomas Clear III's paralegal, Ricardo 'Rick' Mendez, would usually contact the defendant. But in his plea agreement, Mendez said in this specific case, attorneys Clear and Chavez still planned to pay the officer to let the driver off the hook. Alba confirmed that plan in his plea agreement.
Chavez wrote, "It is unreasonable and untrue to claim that payments were made" regarding an administrative hearing for the driver to keep his license because the driver never requested that hearing. In the scheme, we know that's one of the first proceedings officers were paid not to attend. Chavez said he wasn't even hired until weeks after that hearing would have taken place.
Chavez added, "It's curious why these false statements were included in their sworn pleas." On payment, he said he billed the driver his usual rate of $350 an hour. Regarding the criminal case, the court record shows one delay, the trial. Chavez explained the driver got sick so the judge rescheduled the trial. It was moved more than a month later to January 17, 2024. That was a day before the public learned of this public corruption scandal. On that day, he said he received notice the Bernalillo County District Attorney's Office dismissed the case. A list from the DA showed it's one of hundreds the office had to dismiss after several police officers, including Alba, were deemed no longer credible in court by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
In one of Chavez's final points to the court, he stated simply that neither he nor the driver ever paid off Clear, Mendez, or Alba to miss any hearings. While Mendez's plea agreement mentions Chavez's case, it doesn't appear in Clear's plea. Chavez claimed Clear denied his involvement.
KRQE News 13 did reach out to attorney Chavez for a comment on this situation. He did not return calls or emails.
The State Bar of New Mexico shows Chavez joined the bar in 1981 and practices in Bernalillo, Sandoval, and Taos Counties. It's not clear when the New Mexico Supreme Court will decide whether it will suspend Chavez's law license. ...read more read less