The Metropolitan Courthouse is a

courthouse A courthouse or court house is a building that is home to a local court of law and often the regional county government as well, although this is not the case in some larger cities. The term is common in North America. In most other English-spe ...

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

, housing the

Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court The Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court is the Judicial system of the metropolitan areas of Albuquerque, New Mexico and Bernalillo County, New Mexico, USA. The Metropolitan Courthouse is located in Downtown Albuquerque. System The Metropolitan Co ...

. The building is located on the northwest corner of 4th Street and Lomas Boulevard in an area known as the Courthouse District. The courthouse rises and has nine stories. Designed by DCSW Architects in a contemporary

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

style, it features a three-story rotunda finished with granite, marble, and travertine and a sculpture of the scales of justice. Ground was broken on the project in May 2001 and the building was

topped out In building construction, topping out (sometimes referred to as topping off) is a builders' rite traditionally held when the last beam (or its equivalent) is placed atop a structure during its construction. Nowadays, the ceremony is often parlaye ...

the following June. The courthouse opened for business on January 20, 2004, replacing the old Metro Courthouse at 4th and Roma. From 2005 to 2009, the Metro Courthouse was at the center of a high-profile

fraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compens ...

investigation, during which allegations emerged that a group of conspirators had siphoned off $4.2 million from the courthouse construction project in a scheme described by the Albuquerque Journal as "breathtaking in scope and star power." Eight people were eventually named as defendants in the case, including the former president pro tempore of the

New Mexico State Senate The New Mexico Senate ( es, Senado de Nuevo México) is the upper house of the New Mexico State Legislature. The Senate consists of 42 members, with each senator representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts across the state ...

and a former

mayor of Albuquerque The mayor of Albuquerque, New Mexico is the chief executive officer of the city, elected for a four-year term. There are no term limits for the mayor. Under the New Mexico State Constitution, municipal elections are nonpartisan. The 30th and cur ...

. The investigation ended with six of the accused pleading guilty to

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agree ...

and

mail fraud Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical or electronic mail system to defraud another, and are federal crimes there. Jurisdiction is claimed by the federal government if the illegal activit ...

, while the other two pleaded guilty to

misprision of felony Misprision of felony is a form of misprision, and an offence under the common law of England that is no longer active in many common law countries. Where it was or is active, it is classified as a misdemeanor. It consists of failing to report kn ...

References

External links

Metropolitan Courthouse
(Emporis) {{Buildings in Albuquerque Skyscraper office buildings in Albuquerque, New Mexico Courthouses in New Mexico Government buildings completed in 2003 2003 establishments in New Mexico

See also

References

External links