Barbara Romo was sworn in as District Attorney of the 13th Judicial District in January 2021. Prior to being elected District Attorney she was the Chief Deputy District Attorney for (Cibola, Sandoval and Valencia Counties). She also served the district as a Deputy District Attorney for 5 years. She’s been practicing law in New Mexico for over 24 years, having worked for eight years in the 1st Judicial District Attorney’s Office (Los Alamos, Rio Arriba and Santa Fe Counties) prosecuting a variety of felonies and heading up the Felony Crimes Against Children Unit, exclusively prosecuting felony crimes against children and homicides.

 

Prior to joining the 13th Judicial District Barbara also served as the Chief Deputy in the 7th (Catron, Sierra, Socorro and Torrance Counties) Judicial District for 4 years. Barbara also served as the Lead Attorney for the New Mexico Victim’s Rights Project for two years.

 

As a prosecutor, Barbara has prosecuted every type of felony and has tried over 100 cases before juries specializing in crimes against children, sexual assault and homicides. She has worked for the New Mexico Victim's Rights Project as a victims' rights attorney, providing legal representation to crime victims as well as providing training and assistance to prosecutors, law enforcement, and other agencies who assist victims of crime.

 

At the 13th, among other achievements, she led the prosecution team to obtain a jury verdict of First Degree Murder for slain Rio Rancho police officer Gregg Nigel Benner. This resulted in the first sentence of life without parole obtained in the State upon a jury verdict, after the State's repeal of the death penalty.

 

She has served as the Chair of the Board of Directors for the Prosecutor’s Section of the New Mexico State Bar Association and currently serves on the New Mexico Supreme Court’s Rules of Evidence Committee and on the Supreme Court Rules of Criminal Procedure Committee. 

 

Barbara has been much lauded receiving the Community Service Prosecutor  of the year award in 2018,  Prosecutor of the Year in 2016, Rookie Prosecutor of the Year in 1997 all from the New Mexico District Attorney Association. Barbara was also awarded the Homer Campbell Child Abuse Prosecutor of the Year in 2015  from the Prosecutors Section of the New Mexico State Bar Association. 

 

An honor graduate of the University of Nebraska Law School, Barbara is also an Army Veteran achieving the rank of Captain. Barbara  has been married to her husband Onorio for 33 years — also a veteran and a two-time recipient of the Silver Star— and raised her two grown children, a daughter, Xochitl and a son Cuautemoc in Rio Rancho.