Legal jousting intensifies over state's interpretation of 2023 'second chance' law for youthful offenders

SANTA FE — A state judge on Wednesday declined to order the immediate release of a New Mexico prison inmate who has spent more than half his life behind bars after being convicted of murder as a teenager in 1996.

But District Court Judge Francis Mathew said he found arguments that Jesse Tooker should have been released by the New Mexico Corrections Department after being granted parole in August to be compelling, setting the stage for a broader court challenge to move forward.

Tooker, who is now 47, has emerged as a central figure in a simmering legal debate over the state’s interpretation of a 2023 “second chance” law for violent juvenile offenders. The law was passed after several years of emotional debate and was intended to give people sent to prison for serious crimes they committed between the ages of 14 and 17 the opportunity to make the case they have turned their lives around.

But the Corrections Department has declined to release Tooker from prison even after he was granted parole by the state parole board, under an October advisory opinion issued by the New Mexico Department of Justice. Instead, he was paroled into two consecutive counts — both stemming from the same criminal case — that total 22 additional years in prison.

Van Snow, the acting deputy solicitor general with the state Department of Justice's criminal appeals division, argued during Wednesday’s hearing that the 2023 law does not specify that offenders sentenced to consecutive sentences be released if granted parole.

“Parole doesn’t necessarily mean release to the community,” Snow said at one point during Wednesday’s hearing.

But Stephen Taylor, the attorney representing Tooker in his lawsuit against the New Mexico Parole Board, said that stance flies in the face of the Legislature's intention in passing the 2023 law.

"It feels like they're making stuff up because they don't like the reading of the law," Taylor said.

He also pointed out nine former inmates were released by the Corrections Department under the 2023 law before the advisory opinion was issued.

The state parole board has not definitively said whether those former inmates could be rearrested under the agency's current interpretation of the law.

Tooker was convicted in 1996 of murdering an elderly woman in San Juan County after he and some friends broke into the woman’s house and stole her vehicle, according to court records. He received a life sentence for the crime, which he committed at the age of 17, along with the two consecutive counts that were tacked onto the sentence.

Family members say Tooker has atoned for his crime and is now a ministry mentor in prison. His sister, Sarah Htoutou, traveled from Texas to attend Wednesday's court hearing and previously said "the man he is now bears no resemblance to the child he was then."

Meanwhile, Tooker's court case against the State Parole Board is still active despite the judge's decision not to issue his immediate release. A separate court case challenging the state's interpretation of the 2023 law has also been filed.

"We're optimistic about the hearing today and eventual outcome," Taylor said after Wednesday's court hearing.

Taylor, who is also the executive director of the Albuquerque-based nonprofit group (De)Serving Life that advocates for individuals released from prison, added the group does not feel it's necessary to ask legislators to amend the law during the 30-day session that starts next month.

Dan Boyd covers state government and politics for the Journal in Santa Fe. Follow him on Twitter at @DanBoydNM or reach him via email at dboyd@abqjournal.com.