Alamogordo NM
9-03-2026 5:43am

From Parole Officer to the Bench: Lujan Grisham Appoints Joseph Cutts to Otero County Magistrate Court

ALAMOGORDO, N.M. — A longtime New Mexico corrections officer is moving from supervising criminal cases to presiding over them after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham appointed Joseph Cutts to the Otero County Magistrate Court.

Cutts will take over Division 2 following the resignation of Judge Albert R. Greene III. His appointment begins Sept. 12 and will last until the next general election.

The appointment caps an unusual path to the bench. Cutts defeated Greene, the incumbent, in the June 2 Republican primary, and Greene stepped down after the loss. Because no other candidates filed for the seat, Cutts will run unopposed in the Nov. 3 general election — meaning the governor’s appointment effectively installs him in a job voters had already signaled would be his.

The Division 2 race was one of only a handful of contested contests on Otero County’s primary ballot this year, in a county where Republican primaries are frequently decisive. Magistrate judges in New Mexico handle misdemeanor cases and preliminary hearings, serving as many residents’ first — and often only — point of contact with the court system.

Cutts brings more than a decade of criminal justice experience to the role, though from the enforcement side rather than the courtroom. He has served as a senior adult probation and parole officer with the New Mexico Corrections Department since 2012, supervising offenders after conviction. He also teaches criminal justice at New Mexico State University Alamogordo.

His academic credentials run through the same field. Cutts earned an Associate of Applied Science in criminal justice from NMSU Alamogordo, a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from NMSU in Las Cruces, and a Master of Science in criminal justice from the University of Oklahoma.

Unlike district court judgeships, New Mexico magistrate judges are not required to be licensed attorneys in most jurisdictions, opening the bench to candidates with broader criminal justice backgrounds like Cutts. 

Greene’s departure ends a relatively short but effective tenure on the court. Greene had a respectable reputation as an attorney prior to his appointment. He was appointed to the Otero County bench by Lujan Grisham in 2023, filling a vacancy left by the resignation of Judge Michael Ryan Suggs. Before joining the magistrate court, Greene worked as a domestic relations hearing officer with the Twelfth Judicial District Court and as a senior Children’s Court attorney with the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department.

Cutts is expected to stand for the seat in the Nov. 3 general election, where he faces no opposition.

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