Copyright © 2023 Albuquerque Journal
SANTA FE — The arrest of a suspect charged with politically motivated shootings in Albuquerque is surfacing in debate at the Roundhouse over whether to make it easier to hold more defendants in custody as they await trial.
Citing the shooting case, Sen. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, renewed his opposition Thursday to overhauling New Mexico’s pretrial detention law but called for broader scrutiny of how courts are carrying it out.
Cervantes, chairman of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, praised the decision of a Metropolitan Court judge to keep in custody Solomon Pena — a failed legislative candidate charged in the shootings — until a detention hearing can be held.
It’s evidence, Cervantes said, that judges already have the discretion they need to hold defendants in jail when it’s appropriate as they await trial.
But he also took issue with an analytical tool considered by the courts in their decision-making. The safety assessment hadn’t recommended the highest levels of supervision if the defendant were released.
The Arnold Tool — which analyzes the likelihood a defendant will show up to court and/or commit a new crime — will get some scrutiny by the Senate Judiciary Committee this session, Cervantes said.
He told the Journal it’s a tool “with many faults but used to justify release of criminals.”
Artie Pepin, director of the state Administrative Office of the Courts, said the Arnold Tool simply recommends the level of supervision if a judge determines the defendant can be released before trial. It’s up to a judge, he said, to determine whether release is appropriate.
“Researchers have validated that the (public safety assessment) reliably gauges the likelihood of whether the person will return to court for future hearings and remain arrest-free,” Pepin said.
Pena, a Republican who lost a lopsided House race last year, has been accused by authorities of orchestrating a string of drive-by shootings targeting the homes four Democratic officials, including House Speaker Javier Martínez and state Sen. Linda Lopez.
Pena had visited the home of at least one official to raise allegations of election fraud. He lost his race by 48 percentage points, and no evidence of fraud has surfaced.
A metropolitan judge earlier this week decided to hold Pena in custody until a District Court detention hearing determines whether to release him before trial.
“The judge is doing the appropriate thing here,” Cervantes told his colleagues on the Senate floor Thursday. But “we’ll be looking for that same level of protection for all New Mexicans, not just elected officials.”
Whether to revise New Mexico’s pretrial detention system — revised by a 2016 constitutional amendment — has been a focus of debate at the Roundhouse for years.
Cervantes on Thursday spoke out against one idea in particular — legislation that would create a rebuttable presumption of dangerousness for defendants charged with certain violent crimes.
The aim of such proposals is to make it easier for more defendants to be held in custody before they’ve been convicted — to keep them from committing new crimes.
But opponents say courts can already keep a defendant in jail if there’s no other way to protect the public.
