On Wednesday, a former Republican candidate for a New Mexico state House seat was sentenced to 80 years in prison after contracting gunmen to carry out drive-by shootings at the homes of Democrat officials after his election loss.
Solomon Peña was convicted of 13 felony charges earlier this year after he orchestrated the attacks in Albuquerque, New Mexico weeks after his defeat in November 2022.
He had been charged with conspiracy, being a felon in possession of a firearm, four counts of intimidation and interference with federally protected activities, four counts of using or carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence and three counts of solicitation to commit a crime of violence.
Following his unsuccessful campaign, Peña reportedly went to the homes of members of the Bernalillo County Board of Commissioners and pressured them not to certify the election results, purporting that the election had been “rigged” against him.
Prosecutors said Peña organized the shootings at the homes of two Bernalillo County commissioners and two New Mexico state legislators in response to unsubstantiated claims that election fraud contributed to his loss.
When they refused and certified the results, Peña hired co-conspirators Jose Trujillo and Demetrio Trujillo to carry out the shootings, prosecutors said.
The shootings, one of which involved a machine gun, were carried out between Dec. 4, 2022, and Jan. 3, 2023. Peña personally participated in one of the attacks.
While nobody was injured, the drive-by shootings occurred while children and other relatives of the victims were at home.
“Violence and intimidation have no place in our elections,” U.S. Attorney for New Mexico Ryan Ellison said in a statement on Wednesday.
The two men Peña contracted for the shooting spree pleaded guilty last year. Following his arrest, Peña attempted to have the pair murdered to prevent them from testifying.
In addition to the 80 years in prison, Peña was given three years of supervised release.
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The difference is republicans don’t support or endorse this kind of criminal behavior but if he was a democrat they would support and defend his criminal acts.
This lunatic is getting (some of) what he deserves. Imagine what his opponent must have been like, that he got any votes at all. Pure evil.
Republican as RNC Estd