Police & Prison
Two-week waiting period, ban on large magazines clear first committee in NM Legislature
As the U.S. grapples with gun policy in the face of mass shootings and gun violence, state lawmakers are also weighing several reforms that have begun moving in the Roundhouse. A panel of House lawmakers in New Mexico on Tuesday afternoon passed two proposals that would create a waiting period before someone has a gun […]
Clemency for Leonard Peltier demanded decades after his incarceration
People in Albuquerque joined others across the country demanding the release of Leonard Peltier from federal prison. “His imprisonment was meant to demoralize us and to discourage us from resisting. He was meant to be made an example of, to show people this is what happens if you speak out,” Jennifer Marley said in front […]
Solomon Pena pleads not guilty following grand jury indictment
Solomon Pena pleaded not guilty during a Friday arraignment hearing, his first court appearance since a grand jury indicted him on 14 felony charges related to an alleged plot to shoot at the homes of elected officials. Pena, an election denier and failed 2022 GOP candidate for the N.M. House, is accused of enlisting help […]
The infection of anti-Black bias in U.S. society and policing
Once again, Americans are left reeling from the horror of video footage showing police brutalizing an unarmed Black man who later died. Some details in the latest case of extreme police violence were gut-wrenchingly familiar: a police traffic stop of a Black male motorist turned violent. But, for many of us, other details were unfamiliar: […]
Congressional Black Caucus meets with Biden to push for police accountability
WASHINGTON — The Congressional Black Caucus met with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris Thursday evening to urge the administration to use its executive power for law enforcement reform, following criminal charges for police officers in the killing of a Black man in Memphis, Tennessee. “My hope is this dark memory spurs some […]
N.M. prison officials seek funding for hundreds of vacant guard positions
A panel of House lawmakers on Tuesday honored a request by the head of the state prison system and the governor to keep paying for hundreds of guard positions that have sat empty for years, against the recommendation of their own analysts. In its proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year, the Legislative Finance Committee […]
Some lawmakers unconvinced ‘rebuttable presumptions’ bill would make it through the courts
New Mexico’s governor and the district attorney for the largest county in the state are working to convince lawmakers to change the way pretrial detention hearings work by saying they want to balance the rights of people accused of crimes with their impression about public safety. Whenever prosecutors ask a judge to hold someone accused […]
Second Chance bill has better chances to pass than in previous years
A proposal to end life without parole as a sentencing option for children and decrease how long someone convicted as a juvenile would have to be in prison before a parole board could consider their case has significantly better chances to pass than in prior legislative sessions. Senate Bill 64 would end life without parole […]
The New Mexico Voting Rights Act: What’s in and what’s out
A sprawling proposal to expand and return the right to vote to more New Mexicans could finally become a reality this session after years of legislative and community effort, according to Democratic leaders, pro-democracy organizers and the state’s top election official. In the short 30-day session in 2022, opponents argued they were not given enough […]
Governor: N.M. prison medical care contracts leave ‘a lot to be desired’
New Mexico’s governor and lawmakers from both parties are again pushing legislation that would require people accused of a crime to prove that they are not too dangerous to release before a trial. They are also trying to get 1,000 more police officers hired and working around the state. Those two initiatives, if successful, would […]
N.M. chief justice defends bail reform in State of the Judiciary
Since it became law, N.M. politicians at every level have called for an erosion of a landmark legal reform in the state’s history. New Mexico voters in 2016 overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment to abolish the cash bail system and left decisions about whether someone is incarcerated before trial entirely in the hands of judges. […]
Albuquerque DA appoints special prosecutor in 2020 monument shooting
The Bernalillo County District Attorney has appointed a special prosecutor to handle the criminal case against a former Albuquerque City Council candidate who shot a protester in June 2020 at the statue depicting Spanish colonizer Juan de Oñate called La Jornada at Tiguex Park in Albuquerque’s Old Town neighborhood. Steven Ray Baca, 34, is accused […]