Police & Prison
NM lawmakers say they need better communication with state courts
In the first interim meeting of the year for the New Mexico Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee on Monday, lawmakers expressed a need for more regular contact between the Legislature and state courts so repetitive legal issues can be solved. When courts make decisions, justices sometimes pinpoint issues they want policymakers to consider during legislative […]
Failed NM House candidate facing federal election interference charges after shootings
A U.S. federal judge on Wednesday unsealed an indictment accusing a candidate for the New Mexico House of Representatives of orchestrating violent interference in the 2022 midterm election. A week earlier, a federal grand jury charged Solomon Peña, 40, with crimes related to a spree of shootings targeting four elected officials in the Albuquerque area […]
Medical care at largest jail in N.M. to go public
New Mexico’s flagship hospital is expected this summer to begin sending its staff to treat people incarcerated while awaiting trial in the state’s largest jail. An advisory panel for the Metropolitan Detention Center in Bernalillo County on Wednesday night endorsed a proposal to no longer rely on private companies to provide health care, and instead […]
Police ID teen shooter and 3 elderly victims in ‘random’ attack on Farmington neighborhood
Farmington police Tuesday identified the teen shooter who killed three and injured at least six while walking through a neighborhood Monday as Farmington High School student Beau Wilson. Police have not yet identified a motive. Two of the three people killed died at the scene and were mother and daughter, 98-year-old Gwendolyn Schofield and 73-year-old Melody […]
Asylum officers rushing migrants through screenings, advocates say
With the end of the federal migration policy known as Title 42 on Thursday night, advocates along the U.S.-Mexico border expect it to become even harder for migrants to seek protection from persecution, violence and torture in their home countries. What will take its place, advocates say, will still be like an asylum ban — […]
CYFD advisory panel will hold closed door meetings as part of agency audit
New Mexico’s state child welfare agency, which consistently faces questions about transparency, has created an advisory panel that will hold some of its meetings behind closed doors as part of a systematic review of the organization and the services it provides to foster children. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham created the Children Youth and Families Department […]
NM courts adopt new online records system
New Mexico court records are accessed daily by attorneys, law enforcement and members of the press. The state has allowed these groups the ability to access and download documents from a searchable online database for many years. In early April, that database was moved to a new interface, one that offers the state an opportunity […]
Charges against Alec Baldwin dismissed in fatal ‘Rust’ shooting
Santa Fe prosecutors have dismissed the involuntary manslaughter charge filed against actor Alec Baldwin related to the 2021 fatal shooting on the set of the film “Rust.” A motion was filed Friday in the First Judicial District Court dismissing the felony charge filed against Baldwin in October last year following the death of cinematographer Halyna […]
U.S. Supreme Court holds off on abortion pill ruling until midnight Friday
WASHINGTON — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito postponed a ruling on access to the abortion pill until Friday as the high court continues considering arguments from anti-abortion organizations and the federal government. Alito’s two-day-long pause, issued Wednesday, keeps a ruling from U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk on […]
Albuquerque cannabis equity findings have sat on a shelf for a year
Cannabis legalization in New Mexico was touted as being a way to repair the harms caused by the War on Drugs, while also creating opportunities for New Mexicans to participate in a new industry, said Shawna Brown. The city of Albuquerque in August 2021 created the Cannabis Equity Working Group, after the passage of the […]
Edgewood anti-abortion ordinance likely to face challenge at NM Supreme Court, scholar says
Elected officials for the Town of Edgewood are expected to vote later this month to effectively ban abortion within the town’s limits. However, the ordinance will likely face legal challenges, including an uphill battle at the New Mexico Supreme Court, which on March 31 ordered similar local ordinances to have no effect. The Edgewood ordinance […]
Family left with questions after man dies in custody of rural South Dakota sheriff’s office
State investigators are reviewing the death of a man shortly after his arrest on April 3 by Charles Mix County sheriff’s deputies. Friends of 35-year-old Robert Dennis “Berta” Enoch have a host of questions about how someone who’d expressed a desire to get well and had secured a place at a treatment center just days […]