Former New Mexico political candidate indicted over shootings targeting elected officials News
Camerafiend at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Former New Mexico political candidate indicted over shootings targeting elected officials

A federal grand jury indicted former New Mexico House candidate Solomon Peña for his alleged involvement in shootings from December 2022 to January 2023 which targeted four elected officials’ homes in documents unsealed Wednesday.

The indictment from the US District Court for the District of New Mexico contains 11 counts including conspiracy, using a firearm during a crime of violence, possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and using a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking. The grand jury also alleged Demetrio Trujillo and Jose Louise Trujillo knowingly and willfully assisted Peña in the shootings. The four victims are a member of the New Mexico State Senate, the New Mexico Speaker of the House and two members of the Bernalillo County Board of Commissioners, which is the group that certified Peña’s election results.

The indictment includes an alleged text message from Peña a month after he lost his election, stating, “We can’t just sit around being angry. We have to act. I’m continuing my study of election rigging. The enemy will eventually break, because they are committing intentional wrongs, and all humans eventually make mistakes.”

Peña made national headlines during the November 2022 general elections, claiming his election was rigged. Peña lost the election for New Mexico’s House District 14 to Miguel P. Garcia, his Democratic opponent, by almost 50 percentage points.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Fyodor Dostoevsky sentenced to death

Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky was sentenced to death on November 16, 1849 over his involvement in the progressive Petrashevsky Circle of intellectuals. Dostoevsky and his codefendants were scheduled to be executed on December 22 of that year, but their execution was stayed by Tsar Nicholas I after the execution ritual had been carried out. Dostoevsky was sent to Siberia instead to serve a four-year sentence. Learn more about the mock execution of Dostoevsky.

Canada executed Metis leader for treason

On November 16, 1885, the Canadian government executed Metis leader Louis Riel for high treason in the wake of the "Northwest Rebellion" that had pitted the Metis (descendants of French traders and native tribes) in what is now Saskatchewan against Canadian troops. Although Riel has lately been rehabilitated as an Indigenous francophone patriot of the Canadian West, his trial and execution remain sore points between English and French Canada.

US President Nixon signs Trans-Alaska Pipeline Act

On November 16, 1973, US President Richard Nixon signed the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Act into law. In addition to creating an oil pipeline across the state, the Act also quashed all environmental-legal challenges regarding its construction.