Albuquerque, New Mexico
AP
—
A failed political candidate was sentenced to 80 years in federal jail Wednesday for his convictions in a sequence of drive-by shootings at the homes of state and native lawmakers in Albuquerque in the aftermath of the 2020 election.
A jury convicted former Republican candidate Solomon Peña earlier this 12 months of conspiracy, weapons and different fees in the shootings in December 2022 and January 2023 on the homes of 4 Democratic officers, together with the present state House speaker.
Prosecutors, who had sought a 90-year sentence, stated Peña has proven no regret and had hoped to trigger political change by terrorizing individuals who held opposite views to him into being too afraid to participate in political life.
Peña’s attorneys had sought a five-year sentence, saying their consumer maintains that he’s harmless of the fees. They have stated Peña was not concerned in the shootings and that prosecutors have been counting on the testimony of two males who bear accountability and accepted plea agreements in change for leniency.
“Today was a necessary step toward Mr. Peña’s continued fight to prove his innocence,” stated Nicholas Hart, one among Peña’s attorneys. “He looks forward to the opportunity to appeal, where serious issues about the propriety of this prosecution will be addressed.”
The assaults came about as threats and acts of intimidation towards election employees and public officers surged throughout the nation after President Donald Trump and his allies known as into query the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
Prosecutors stated Peña resorted to violence in the assumption {that a} “rigged” election had robbed him of victory in his bid to serve in the state Legislature.
The shootings focused the homes of officers together with two county commissioners after their certification of the 2022 election, in which Peña misplaced by almost 50 proportion factors. No one was injured, however in one case bullets handed by way of the bed room of a state senator’s 10-year-old daughter.
Two different males who had acknowledged serving to Peña with the assaults had beforehand pleaded responsible to federal fees and acquired yearslong jail sentences.