Lemuel Martinez is going for a three-peat. Three election wins in a row to be the District Attorney for the 13th District Court.

Barring any write-in candidates or independents entering the race, it appears Martinez will have four more years of prosecuting the bad guys.

No one filed to run against him on Tuesday, which was the last day to enter the Democrat or Republican primaries. Martinez, a Democrat, has served as district attorney since 2001. His office represents Sandoval, Cibola and Valencia counties.

He says his top priorities over the past decade will not change.

“My main goals are prosecuting crimes against children, crimes against the elderly and violent crimes,” Martinez said. “We hammer them more because they can be weak, frail and vulnerable.”

While Martinez, a former schoolteacher in Grants, enjoys punishing criminals, being a district attorney of the fastest growing district and the second largest district in the state also requires management skills.

Martinez has 33 assistant district attorneys do the actual prosecuting and courtroom work. This allows him to focus on serving the public and making sure goals are met, he said.

With a constantly increasing caseload, Martinez will get some extra help for the next year. He said the state legislature authorized funds to hire eight new attorneys.

From 2000 to 2006, The 13th District has seen almost a double digit increase in cases, going from 3,967 to 7,541.

Sandoval County has seen the largest increase and has the most cases. In 2000, Sandoval County had 1,292 cases. In 2006, it had 3,014 cases, a 133 percent increase.

With the increased caseload has come an increased budget. Martinez said he started with a $1.7 million budget and now has $4.35 million to work with.

“To deal with the process of change it takes efficiency and hard work,” Martinez said.

Another staffing goal includes having a victim’s advocate and domestic violence prosecutor in Sandoval, Valencia and Cibola counties to exclusively focus on domestic violence.

Prosecuting domestic violence cases can be difficult, according to Martinez. He said sometimes victims don’t testify.

To encourage victims to testify against abusers, Martinez said his office works with nonprofit groups and shelters like Haven House.

To help meet this goal, Martinez wants to have a task force to ensure abuse victims receive proper care and treatment.

Martinez also wants to decrease recidivism for all crimes.

He said 78 percent of offenders are repeat offenders.

The preprosecution diversion program allows nonviolent offenders to serve probation for a year to two years and pay restitution and/or fines. This saves the court and judges time, Martinez said. The offender admits to the crimes and it is documented. If the offender fails to meet probation requirements, then the offender will be prosecuted.

Martinez also wants to reach juvenile criminals early, so they later become productive citizens.

To reach this goal, Martinez wants to implement a juvenile justice task force in all three counties, while extending the gang prosecution unit to Sandoval and Cibola counties. Valencia County already has the program.

The juvenile justice task force recently debuted in Sandoval County. The task force provides alternatives to detention for juvenile offenders. The children are placed in a day-reporting center they complete academic work, perform community service and participate in physical activity.