2001 Zia Award Angela J. Jewell
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here isn’t much that Angela Jewel can’t tell you about relationships. As district court judge dealing with domestic violence, Angela has seen the good, the bad and the ugly. She has helped strengthen the first, improve the second and eradicate the last. It takes a special kind of judge – and judgment – to be able to figure out which is which. Angela said in a Mirage story a few years back that growing up the oldest of nine kids taught her how “to shut out a large amount of noise in order to focus on what was really going on.” That undoubtedly helps her get to the crux of a case. A goodly amount of experience and training helps, too. After graduating from UNM Law School, Angela went into private practice in 1981, opening her own firm with her husband, now Judge Tommy Jewel, for several years. But the chance to spread the word about domestic violence and to recruit lawyers to do pro bono work on behalf of its victims lured Angela to the Legal Aid Society and then to the Domestic Violence Division of the Second Judicial District Court as a Special Commissioner. From that point on, her training has been intense – both on the receiving and the giving end. While she has completed coursework at the National Judicial College and at UNM, she has also conducted training for the Albuquerque Police Department, the Shelter for Victims of Domestic Violence, the Southwest Indian Law Clinic, the Neutral Corner, UNM Emergency Medicine Residents and countless other groups.
Angela is a member of Albuquerque’s Domestic Violence Task Force Committee, the Public Safety Advisory Board, the Attorney General’s Task Force on Violence Against Women, the New Mexico Medical/Legal Domestic Violence Committee and numerous other related, public committees. She also serves as a member of the New Mexico Supreme Court Task Force on Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Courts. In the Mirage article, Angela expressed dismay about the victim-blaming she sees in domestic violence cases – in the court system as well as among individuals. Her efforts as judge and community member must surely be reducing that injustice. Angela, we are grateful to you for your work, your wisdom and your tenacity. We are also very proud to claim you as a INM alumna, and to present you with our 2001 Zia Award.