Former WNMU president asks judge to reinstate state auditor, lawmakers as lawsuit defendants

An attorney for former Western New Mexico University President Joseph Shepard on Monday asked a judge to undo a prior ruling that shielded the state auditor and several state lawmakers from his lawsuit that alleges they colluded to force him out of the job.

Shepard resigned as university president in late 2024 after news reports and State Auditor Joseph Maestas revealed how he and other university leaders used taxpayer and university foundation money to pay for international trips and exotic home furnishings. His resignation came with a $1.9 million severance payout and a tenured teaching job in the university’s business school.

A newly appointed Board of Regents last summer voted to undo the payout and teaching contract. Shepard sued the university over the decision last October and named Maestas and several state lawmakers as defendants, alleging that they colluded to force him out of the job after he previously raised questions about some of the Legislature’s education spending.

Sixth Judicial District Court Judge Jarod Hofacket previously ruled that Maestas and the lawmakers are protected by legislative immunity — meaning they were acting within the normal course of their jobs as public officials — and granted their requests to be removed as defendants.

Attorneys representing the government officials argued during the Monday morning hearing that Shepard’s motion to reconsider was more a “motion to reargue issues that the court has already considered and decided.”

“The motion to reconsider points to no intervening change in law, no newly discovered evidence and no issue that the court overlooked,” Taylor Lueras, an attorney representing the lawmakers, said.

Hofacket did not rule from the bench and told attorneys on both sides of the dispute that he would issue a written ruling, but did not specify when. 

Shepard’s time as university president is the subject of several other ongoing lawsuits.

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez sued him in early 2025 in a bid to claw back his severance payment and the State Ethics Commission sued him last summer over allegations that he built a patio near his on-campus house to host events related to his daughter’s wedding with money intended for Americans with Disabilities Act-compliance projects.

Both cases are set to go to trial in 2027.