Search San Juan County District Court

San Juan County District Court Overview

San Juan County sits in New Mexico's Eleventh Judicial District, Division I, with District Court operations in Aztec and Farmington. New Mexico District Courts have general jurisdiction and jury trials. They hear tort, contract, real property, estate, domestic relations, mental health, administrative and lower-court appeals, misdemeanor matters in some postures, felony criminal cases, and juvenile jurisdiction.

The Eleventh Judicial District serves San Juan and McKinley counties. Many searches start with New Mexico Case Lookup because it covers statewide electronic court records and includes District and Magistrate Courts, but the court where the matter was filed still controls the official file. District Court records are separate from County Clerk recorded documents and from city municipal court files.

The official Aztec Magistrate Court page identifies one of the local lower courts that often appears before or beside District Court in San Juan County case routing.

That lower-court context matters because felony cases may begin with a preliminary stage in Magistrate Court before moving into District Court.

San Juan County District Court Locations

San Juan County does not use separately numbered county district courts in the way some states do. The researched official court page instead lists the Aztec District Court and Farmington District Court locations, judges, administrators, and court contacts. Both locations are part of the Eleventh Judicial District, Division I.

The official location page lists District Court hours as Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The Aztec District Court fax is 505-334-1940. The Farmington District Court fax is 505-326-1179. Jury information uses the Jury Code-O-Phone number 505-334-6650 or 1-800-748-1350.

District Court vs Magistrate Court

New Mexico's lower-court structure is central to a San Juan County District Court records search. Magistrate Courts handle many first-level criminal and traffic matters, while Municipal Courts handle city ordinance and some city traffic cases. Probate Court handles informal estate matters unless the estate is contested or otherwise belongs in District Court.

The New Mexico Courts Municipal Courts directory was used in the research to identify municipal court contacts for Aztec, Bloomfield, and Farmington.

Municipal court routing is especially important for city traffic and ordinance cases that may not be found in a District Court search.

San Juan County Court Case Flow

Court records move through different offices depending on charge level, case type, and city or county jurisdiction. A felony case may have an arrest and first appearance tied to a jail booking, a preliminary stage in Magistrate Court, and then a District Court case after indictment or information. A divorce case usually starts in District Court. A landlord-tenant case or low-dollar civil claim may stay in Magistrate Court.

Criminal flow: Arrest or citation › Magistrate first stage or municipal case › indictment or information when District Court jurisdiction applies › District Court arraignment › pretrial motions › plea or trial › disposition › sentencing › appeal.

Civil flow: Complaint or petition filed › answer or response › service and scheduling › discovery or mediation › hearing or trial › order or judgment › appeal where allowed.

The official Farmington Magistrate Court page documents another lower-court location that may hold traffic, misdemeanor, DWI/DUI, and small civil records.

When Case Lookup shows a Magistrate Court location code, the request should go to that court unless the matter later moved into District Court.

San Juan County District Court Divisions

District Court records in San Juan County can involve civil, family, criminal, juvenile, mental health, probate-related, and appellate work from lower courts. The official court page lists Aztec District Court judges Curtis R. Gurley, Division 4; Brenna Clani-Washinawatok, Division 6; and Stephen M. Wayne, Division 8. The Farmington District Court listing identifies Court Executive Officer Jodie Schwebel, Deputy Court Executive Officer John Guaderrama, Court Manager Ashley Lucero, and Programs Division Director of Problem-Solving Courts Krista Lawrence.

Case access is not the same for every division. Public Case Lookup excludes Family Violence Protection Act order-of-protection cases from online display effective July 1, 2008, and New Mexico Judiciary no longer displays juvenile criminal cases on Case Lookup effective July 1, 2007. Some Children's Court, adoption, abuse and neglect, mental health, and delinquency matters have higher access tiers through re:SearchNM or are protected from public viewing.

Eleventh Judicial District Programs

San Juan County District Court is tied to treatment, pretrial, and mediation services in the Eleventh Judicial District. Adult CHANGE Court is a felony-level treatment court that began pilot operation on October 7, 1997, is held Thursdays at 4:00 p.m. at Aztec District Court, and has a capacity of 45 participants. The Adult CHANGE Court page is relevant when a criminal District Court record reflects treatment court participation.

Treatment court entries can affect how a criminal case record is read, especially when hearings, compliance, sanctions, or graduation are part of the docket history.

Adult CLEAR Court is a treatment-based substance abuse and mental health program serving felony and misdemeanor-level cases. The Treatment Court program page says the program began in 2007 and had FY 2024 outcomes including 84 individuals served, 5% recidivism among graduates, 77% retention, and 14% graduation.

Those program facts help explain why some San Juan County District Court criminal dockets show repeated review hearings instead of a single plea and sentencing date.

Adult RESET Court is a misdemeanor-level DWI/drug treatment court connected to Farmington Magistrate Court. The Adult RESET Court page says Judge Erich F. Cole conducts RESET Court on Tuesdays at 4:00 p.m. at Farmington Magistrate Court.

RESET Court is most useful for reading misdemeanor, DWI/DUI, and drug-related lower-court records that intersect with treatment court supervision.

San Juan County Lower Courts

Magistrate and Municipal Courts are not side notes in San Juan County. They are often the first or only court for traffic, misdemeanor, DWI/DUI, landlord-tenant, and low-dollar civil matters. Aztec Magistrate Court lists Court Manager Cruz Garcia and judges Trudy M. Reed-Chase, Russell L. Bradford, and Stacey D. Biel. Farmington Magistrate Court lists Court Manager Cruzita Garcia and judges Mark S. Hawkinson, Stanley King, and Erich F. Cole.

Municipal courts serve city cases. The research found Aztec Municipal Court at 201 West Chaco St., Aztec, with window hours Monday through Thursday, 7:00 a.m. to 5:15 p.m., closed 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. Bloomfield Municipal Court is at 711 Ruth Lane, Bloomfield, phone 505-632-6330, Monday through Thursday, 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Farmington Municipal Court has a phone discrepancy between the statewide directory and the city directory, so users should verify the number before relying on it.