A former Republican candidate for a State House seat in New Mexico was sentenced to 80 years in prison on Wednesday for orchestrating a politically motivated shooting spree against four Democratic officials.
The series of shootings happened in December 2022 and early January 2023, weeks after the candidate, Solomon Peña, had lost his race. When Mr. Peña, 42, was arrested in January 2023, the authorities said he had paid four men in cash to shoot at the homes of certain Democratic officials, including a county commissioner and a state senator. No one was injured in the attacks.
In March of this year, a jury found Mr. Peña guilty on 13 federal charges, including conspiracy, weapons-related charges and interference with federally protected activities.
Mr. Peña’s sentencing brings to an end a closely watched case that had rattled politicians in New Mexico. The shooting spree followed other episodes across the country of politically motivated attacks, including an assault on Nancy Pelosi’s husband, that fueled concerns about political violence and election conspiracy theories.
Elected officials have continued to face threats of violence. President Trump faced an assassination attempt during a rally in Butler, Pa., last year during his re-election campaign. In June, a Minnesota man was charged with killing a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband in a political assassination and wounding another state lawmaker and his wife.
“Violence and intimidation have no place in our elections,” Ryan Ellison, the U.S. attorney for New Mexico, said in a statement. “This sentence shows that through the tireless work of our agents and prosecutors we will protect our democracy and bring offenders to justice.”
Mr. Peña’s lawyer, Nicholas Hart, said he planned to appeal the conviction. During trial, Mr. Hart said, he had filed motions challenging the constitutionality of the federal statute that prosecutors used to charge Mr. Peña. Those motions failed, Mr. Hart said, and Mr. Peña’s conviction carried a mandatory minimum sentence of 60 years.
Through the appeal, Mr. Hart said, “real questions about the propriety of this prosecution will finally be addressed.”
Mr. Peña refused to accept his electoral defeat, even though he had lost by a wide margin to an incumbent in a Democratic stronghold in Albuquerque. He claimed the election was rigged and visited the homes of some members of the Bernalillo County Board of Commissioners to urge them not to certify the results.
A few weeks later, someone shot at the home of one commissioner, Adriann Barboa. The home of State Representative Javier Martinez was shot at a few days later, and a similar drive-by shooting occurred soon after at the home of another commissioner, Debbie O’Malley, who is now a state senator. Then came the shooting at the house of State Senator Linda Lopez. Mr. Peña accompanied the shooters to Ms. Lopez’s house, the authorities said.
In a statement, Ms. Barboa said she had not attended the Wednesday sentencing hearing, because she wanted to protect her “peace and health.”
“I am not shuttered or intimidated by Peña’s failed attempts to stall or halt democracy,” she said in the statement. “I, too, have faced hardships in my life and have chosen the path of love, healing and public service, while Peña has used his hardships to justify violence.”
After he was arrested, Mr. Peña tried to have his accomplices, Jose Trujillo and Demetrio Trujillo, killed to prevent them from testifying, according to the federal prosecutors. He offered fellow inmates money and a vehicle in exchange for the deaths.
Mr. Peña was previously convicted in 2008 of burglary and larceny and spent seven years in prison in New Mexico.
In addition to his 80-year prison sentence for the shooting spree, Mr. Peña will be required to pay a $250,000 fine.
Pooja Salhotra covers breaking news across the United States.
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