Judge Cheryl H. Johnston’s decade-long reign over my case constitutes more than mere error—it amounts to a deliberate, systemic campaign of judicial thuggery. She rubber-stamped secret ex parte motions, silenced evidence of perjury, and funneled mothers Medicaid into unnecessary therapy payments through a crony‐run “kids for cash” scheme. Her record is studded with formal suspensions, contempt findings, appalling performance evaluations, and appellate reversals—each a flashing neon warning that her courtroom was a den of corruption, not justice. The following unholy ledger of misconduct lays bare her assault on constitutional guarantees, New Mexico law, and the very soul of fair adjudication.

I. Historical Complaints and Sanctions
2015 Suspension by New Mexico Supreme Court

The Supreme Court suspended Johnston from her Aztec Magistrate bench for undisclosed failures in impartial adjudication—an early signal of her contempt for judicial duty .
2016 Discipline for Due-Process Failures

The Judicial Standards Commission found she jailed a witness without rudimentary due process, violating Canons 2A and 3B(8) of the Code of Judicial Conduct .
2017 Contempt for Secret Tapings

A district court held her in contempt for refusing to produce—and possibly altering—recordings of private courtroom conversations, masking her illicit ex parte dealings .
2020 Judicial Performance Fiasco

In a statewide JPEC evaluation, attorneys flagged Johnston’s “sound legal reasoning” and “timeliness” as seriously deficient, scoring her abysmally on competence and impartiality .

2023 § 1983 Suit for Ex Parte Abuses

In Lowrey v. Portis, a federal court found plausible claims that Johnston’s clandestine ex parte communications and custody orders violated the Fourteenth Amendment and the New Mexico Civil Rights Act .
May 2024 Appellate Reversal—Busich v. Busich

The NM Court of Appeals blasted her factual distortions and procedural shortcuts in a custody ruling, reversing and remanding her orders as an abuse of discretion .
II. Summary of Core Misconduct
A. Flagrant Due-Process Breaches
Johnston granted two secret ex parte custody removals—in November 2019 and October 2022— in my case without the ten-day evidentiary hearings mandated by NMSA 32A-4-18, stripping a fit father of his child on phony molestation claims
She suppressed evidence of GAL her friend’s perjury and billing fraud, obstructing justice in violation of NMSA 30-1-13 by aiding and abetting criminal wrongdoing .
B. Conflicts, Cronyism, and Ex Parte Racketeering
Her undisclosed, three-decade friendship with appointed GAL  flouts Rule 21-302(A) and Rule 21-211 NMRA, creating a judicial cartel that siphoned Medicaid funds for useless therapy .
She routinely engaged in prohibited ex parte communications (Rule 21-209 NMRA), acting on secret phone calls and filings while denying the other party any notice or chance to be heard .
C. Constitutional and Statutory Violations
Violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses and Article II, § 18 of the NM Constitution by removing custody without a hearing and favoring one parent over the other .
Trampled the Children’s Code (NMSA 32A-1-3, 32A-4-18, 32A-4-28) by mandating therapy against a 706 expert’s recommendation and failing to make efforts to reunify the family .
Exposed to civil liability under the NM Civil Rights Act (HB 4 2021) which abolishes qualified immunity for rights deprivations after July 1, 2021, opening the door to up to $2 million in damages .
III. Most Damning Narrative
Imagine a judge who transforms her courtroom into a back-room speakeasy of secret orders—a judge who, in clandestine November 2019 and October 2022 sessions, stripped a loving father of custody on bogus molestation charges, never once convening the statutorily required hearing (NMSA 32A-4-18). Behind the scenes, her lifelong comrade, GAL , billed Medicaid for six years of pointless therapy, funneling money into their joint “kids for cash” racket. When confronted with evidence of perjury, Johnston slammed the docket shut, obstructing justice under NMSA 30-1-13 . Only when a scathing motion to reconsider threatened exposure did she recuse herself—on May 30, 2024—revealing her court to have been a rigged carnival of corruption from the start .

IV. Call to Righteous Fury and Action
Let every citizen’s blood boil at Johnston’s betrayal of justice. Her rogue tenure demands nothing less than:

Immediate removal by the Judicial Standards Commission for willful misconduct and ethics violations.
Criminal referral to the Attorney General for obstruction (NMSA 30-1-13) and accessory to fraud.
Full restitution: disgorge all GAL fees, therapy costs, and court expenses unlawfully extracted.
Public exposure: broadcast her record of contempt, suspension, and reversals in every media forum.
Systemic reform: tighten ex parte rules (Rule 21-209 NMRA), mandate recusal training, and enforce rigorous oversight of custody proceedings.
Cheryl H. Johnston ran her courtroom like a mob boss. Now the people must rise, prosecutors must act, and legislators must fortify our courts against future Johnston-style hijackings. Only then will the promise of fair justice be resurrected from the ashes of her criminal network.  TAR AND FEATHER AND REMOVE THIS KANGAROO CRIMINAL FROM THE BENCH.