Judge in Krebs trial boots TV outlets from courtroom

Jul 18, 2023 Updated 15 hrs ago
ALBUQUERQUE — Prying eyes are no longer welcome.
The judge in the felony embezzlement trial of former University of New Mexico athletic director Paul Krebs ordered cameras from local television outlets be removed from her courtroom Tuesday afternoon.
After reconvening after lunch, 2nd Judicial District Judge Cindy Leos pumped the brakes on the proceedings and told the court she had been made aware at least one TV station had violated an order by livestreaming while the trial was in session. Video and close-up Images of the defense as well as documents on the attorneys’ tables were posted to YouTube earlier that day by KOB and KRQE, a violation of the judge’s orders regarding media decorum during the trial.
Media coverage has been closely monitored throughout this case. Monday’s jury selection was closed to all but one print outlet. The intense interest in the case forced Leos to issue a series of media guidelines in early July. Among them were rules prohibiting the use of livestreams and video or still photography when the court was not in session.
She permitted one stationary video camera in the courtroom. It was manned by a representative from KOAT. Video from that camera was fed outside the courtroom for all three local stations to share, but livestreaming and filming when the court was not in session were strictly prohibited, per Leos’ orders.
Similar orders were in place for the area outside, a narrow third-floor hallway outside Room 338 where witnesses, attorneys and gallery members would routinely congregate during intermittent breaks.
Before the jury was seated following Tuesday’s lunch, Leos informed the court that she was halting the proceedings and would allow attorneys on both sides to review the footage. If they deemed it to be detrimental to their case, Leos said they could request a mistrial.
She also singled out KOB, threatening to have the station incur the cost of the entire proceeding if a mistrial was declared.
Roughly 20 minutes elapsed before Leos summoned the media back into her courtroom without the gallery or jury in attendance. She said the trial would continue, but ordered all TV cameras and crews to vacate the courtroom.
She did allow reporters and photojournalists from The New Mexican, the Albuquerque Journal and Source New Mexico to stay.
In a day filled with a laundry list of witnesses, the ripple of drama surrounding TV footage proved to be the most riveting aspect of Tuesday’s proceedings. A dozen witnesses were called to the stand, most of them to explain how the Lobo Club operated and to describe the inner workings of the accounting procedures for moving money between UNM departments.
All-time shots from the Barracuda Championship
The day ended with Leos dismissing the jury while Assistant Attorney General Andrew Coffing and defense attorney Paul Kennedy argued whether violating UNM policy was the equivalent of violating the law. At question was Krebs’ intent by using money from the athletic department’s numerous accounts to cover the losses incurred to the Lobo Club following a troubled 2015 golfing fundraiser in Scotland.
Coffing’s case suggests Krebs did it with criminal intent; Kennedy claims there is no evidence to suggest his client’s intent — and there never will be. He objected to Coffing’s line of questioning during the witness testimony of UNM policy officer Laurel Sidney Mason-Coon.
Mason-Coon was explaining the university’s administrative policies and procedures. When Coffing moved to have a particular document submitted as evidence, Kennedy offered an objection.
Leos had the jury leave the courtroom, sending them home for the day while instructing Coffing and Kennedy to review their arguments and make their case for the evidence first thing Wednesday morning.
“I had to make that objection because this trial is going down a path that’s confusing the issues and misleading this jury,” Kennedy told Leos. “This is a crazy theory. It’s nuts, and it wasn’t the intent of the grand jury when they indicted [Krebs].”
Most of Tuesday’s testimony offered nothing that hadn’t already been disclosed in previous filings and media reports. Krebs is accused of shuffling more than $13,000 to the Lobo Club after failing to find enough boosters to purchase spots totaling approximately $8,100 apiece for five rounds of golf, plus lodging and meals.
Eight of those spots were vacated when prominent UNM booster Turner Branch died before the trip while others went unsold once it was revealed former Lobo football star Brian Urlacher would not attend, as advertised.
Geared primarily as a fundraiser for the UNM men’s basketball program, the excursion saw Krebs purchase multiple packages using his own money for family members. Despite a last-minute push by Krebs and the Lobo Club to fill all 24 spots, three remained unsold.
That’s when Krebs instructed the Lobo Club to offer discounted packages to three boosters. The trips, Krebs countered, were already paid for and would go to waste if unused. Three boosters were eventually found, each having only to pay their airfare to get to and from Scotland.
One of them was Darin Davis. Davis and the bank he works for are known as one of UNM athletics’ most prominent boosters. In the weeks that followed that trip, he wound up donating the equivalent of his Scotland expense back to the Lobo Club.
When asked in redirect why he was compelled to do so, he said, “Because it was a ‘thank you’ for thinking of me to go on a trip that most people don’t get to go on. I felt it was the right thing to do.”