The New Mexico Supreme Court has permanently disbarred Cosme Ripol, a former prosecutor with the Eighth Judicial District Attorney’s Office in Taos, after finding a pervasive pattern of misconduct that deprived defendants of fair trials. The order, effective Nov. 2, ends the legal career of a man who had practiced law in New Mexico since 1986 and prosecuted more than 100 cases.
All five justices concurred that Ripol’s license should be revoked immediately, according to Taos News. The disciplinary case centered on three criminal cases Ripol prosecuted between 2022 and 2024: State v. Desiree Lensegrav, State v. Daniel Chavez and State v. Cruz Castillo, as reported by ABA Journal.
A Murder Conviction Unraveled
The Lensegrav case proved pivotal in the court’s findings. Lensegrav was convicted in 2022 of first-degree murder, kidnapping, conspiracy and tampering with evidence in the 2019 killing of Joseph Morgas, the newspaper’s report notes. The state’s high court vacated those convictions on Feb. 20, 2025, after finding that Ripol had used inadmissible evidence, courtroom theatrics and inflammatory derogatory statements during her trial.
Court records show the misconduct went beyond closing arguments. In Lensegrav’s trial, Ripol used his opening statement to expose jurors to incriminating allegations from codefendant Aram Montoya, even though Montoya was not on the state’s witness list, according to a FindLaw record of the court’s ruling. The same ruling held that a retrial was barred by double jeopardy under Article II, Section 15 of the New Mexico Constitution.
Recommendations Hardened Over Time
The path to disbarment was not immediate. A disciplinary hearing committee recommended in August 2025 that Ripol be placed on a two-year suspension rather than lose his license outright, per the same outlet’s earlier coverage. Nearly a year later, on July 29, a separate three-member disciplinary panel recommended disbarment, characterizing Ripol’s conduct as a recurring pattern rather than an isolated incident.
Before the Supreme Court’s final order, Ripol pushed back on how his conduct was being characterized. He pointed to his cooperation with investigators and changes to his practice, saying, “He’s admitted to fault, cooperated with investigators and changed his practices,” the publication reported.
Current DA Weighs In on Professional Standards
Marcus Montoya, the current district attorney for the Eighth Judicial District, addressed the broader stakes of holding prosecutors accountable, according to ABA Journal. He said prosecutors answer to a higher standard because of their unique responsibility to seek justice, and that improper courtroom tactics fail that standard even when used by an attorney with more than 30 years of criminal law experience.
The disbarment closes out a yearslong disciplinary process that considered Ripol’s conduct across three prosecutions, including the consequential Lensegrav case. For now, the outcomes of the Chavez and Castillo cases referenced in the disciplinary proceedings remain part of the broader record the court considered in reaching its decision.
