Legal dispute over ‘second chance’ law for youthful offenders stoking concerns

SANTA FE — Nine individuals around New Mexico have been granted parole and were released from prison under a 2023 “second chance” law for juvenile offenders sentenced as adults.

But a recently ignited legal debate over how that law should be implemented has generated concern they could be sent back to prison.

The New Mexico Department of Justice issued an advisory letter last month that said some serious youthful offenders handed consecutive sentences must still serve out other sentences for other charges even if granted parole under the 2023 law.

Chief Deputy Attorney General James Grayson told legislators Thursday he wasn’t sure if released inmates could be “rearrested” under the legal interpretation, saying that decision would be up to the state parole board.

But the advisory letter has already prompted a lawsuit in state court in Santa Fe, and fear among families who pushed for their loved ones to be paroled from prison after serving lengthy sentences.

Several former inmates released under the 2023 law attended the Thursday hearing of the Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee at the Roundhouse.

Sarah Htoutou traveled from Texas with several family members to attend the hearing after her brother was granted parole in August, only to be kept behind bars due to his stacked sentences.

Her brother, Jesse Tooker, has spent 29 years in prison after being convicted of murder, along with other defendants, in what his family describes as a drug-fueled robbery gone bad.

Htoutou said she acknowledges the seriousness of her brother’s crime, but said he has become a mentor and minister during his time in prison.

“The man he is now bears no resemblance to the child he was then,” Htoutou told the Journal.

She also said the shifting interpretation of New Mexico’s second chance law has been difficult for her family, who had presented a plan for Tooker’s post-release life to parole board officials.

“We got really, really excited, just to have that crushed,” Htoutou said.

Sen. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, D-Albuquerque, who was one of the lead sponsors of the 2023 bill, said it was “disappointing” to find out about the Department of Justice’s advisory opinion.

She also said the law was intentionally crafted to allow youthful offenders sentenced as adults to be released from prison if granted parole after certain set time periods.

“It is as clear as we could make it,” Sedillo Lopez said during Thursday’s hearing. “I don’t know how we could make it more clear.”

However, several other legislators expressed support for clarifying the law during the upcoming 30-day session, though that would require Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham adding the issue to the session’s agenda.

The 2023 legislation was approved after several years of emotional debate at the Roundhouse.

In its current form, the law is intended to give people sent to prison for serious crimes, committed when they were 14 to 17 years old, the ability to make the case they deserve a second chance.

Specifically, they can qualify for a parole hearing 15 to 25 years into a criminal sentence, depending on the severity of the underlying conviction.

Several crime victims testified in opposition to previous versions of the bill, including the survivors of a 2017 Clovis library shooting.

Rep. Nicole Chavez, R-Albuquerque, who lobbied against the bill before being elected to the state House last year, said she still has misgivings about the law’s intent.

“Rehabilitation is very important, second chances are very important ... but we can’t ignore the lives that have been taken,” said Chavez, whose son was killed in a 2015 drive-by shooting in Albuquerque.

Going forward, it’s unclear how many other inmates across New Mexico might be impacted by the shifting legal interpretation of the second chance law.

The state Corrections Department did not specifically say how it planned to handle the cases of the nine individuals already granted parole and released under the 2023 law.

“The parole board is continuing to review serious youthful offender cases, in compliance with statutory mandates and applicable review protocols,” Roberta Cohen, the executive director of the state Parole Board, said in a statement.