ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A jury has convicted a failed political candidate of quite a few federal costs in reference to a sequence of drive-by shootings on the properties of state and native lawmakers in Albuquerque within the aftermath of the 2020 election.
Former Republican candidate Solomon Peña had pleaded not responsible to 13 costs together with conspiracy, weapons-related costs and interference with federally protected actions in reference to the shootings in December 2022 and January 2023 on the properties of 4 Democratic officers, together with the present state Home speaker.
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 referred to as into query the end result of the 2020 presidential election.
Prosecutors allege that Peña resorted to violence within the perception {that a} “rigged” election had robbed him of victory in his bid to serve within the state Legislature.
The shootings focused the properties of officers together with two county commissioners after their certification of the 2022 election, through which Peña misplaced by almost 50 share factors. Nobody was injured, however in a single case bullets handed by way of the bed room of a state senator’s 10-year-old daughter.
Protection attorneys say Peña was not concerned within the shootings and that prosecutors had been counting on the testimony of two males who bear duty and accepted plea agreements in trade for leniency.
Peña faces a doable sentence of life in jail. His authorized group plans to enchantment.
“The verdict this evening is a travesty,” lawyer Nicholas Hart mentioned in an announcement. “The evidence showed that Mr. Peña had nothing to do with these shootings. Solomon Pena was prosecuted because of his political beliefs, and because he advocated that the 2020 election was stolen and rigged.”
Jurors listened to greater than per week of testimony from elected officers who had been focused, investigators and Peña’s co-conspirators. Demetrio Trujillo and son Jose Trujillo beforehand pleaded responsible to federal costs in reference to the shootings.
Peña was arrested in January 2023 and held since then in state after which federal custody. The weapons costs included allegations that Peña fired a machine gun in relation to against the law of violence.
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A sentencing listening to has not been scheduled.
