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Valencia County Magistrate Judge Division 2

Magistrates are judges in limited jurisdiction courts. They hold the initial hearings in many types of serious criminal cases, and try criminal cases, including many first-time DUI/DWI and other misdemeanor cases which carry relatively less serious penalties. They also have jurisdiction over some types of civil cases (e.g., landlord/tenant and contracts) in which the amount sought is less than $10,000. Term: Four years; no term limits.

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    JOHN R CHAVEZ
    (Rep)

Biographical Information

1. What qualifies you for this office?

2. What are the major challenges when serving as a Magistrate Judge?

3. What would be the most effective methods to improve Magistrate Court procedures and efficiency?

4. What other information would you like voters to know about you?

Filing County Valencia
Incumbent Magistrate Judge for over 12 years. Adjudicated over 48,000 cases.
In both Sandoval and Valencia Counties, magistrate judges have a very high caseload. Easily a 40-50 hour a week position with after hour, weekend, and holiday on-call work.
Both Sandoval and Valencia County magistrate courts led the transition to paperless court processes for the entire state. This has improved efficiencies, and time to disposition of cases.
A retired U.S. Army Veteran of 27 years where Judge Chavez held Uniform Code of Military Justice authorities in various levels of responsibility.