Solomon Peña's attorney seeks testimony by election skeptics

An attorney for defeated Republican candidate Solomon Peña told a judge Friday she wants to call as witnesses a Las Cruces couple who have built a national reputation as election skeptics.

Peña faces trial on federal charges alleging he orchestrated a string of shootings targeting the homes of Democratic elected officials in 2022 after he lost his race for a state House seat.

Peña’s attorney, Elizabeth Honce, told a federal judge that she wants David and Erin Clements to testify that Peña was working “legally and lawfully” to gather information from county officials about the result of his election.

U.S. District Judge Kea Riggs scheduled a Sept. 16 hearing to hear from the Clements themselves about the nature of their proposed testimony.

“I want to make it clear that we are not retrying the results of the 2022 election, at all,” Riggs said.

The Clements were not in the courtroom Friday in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque.

Peña, dressed in a red and white striped prisoner uniform, sat at the defense table throughout the hearing. Honce participated in the hearing remotely by video.

The judge questioned Honce about the purpose of having the Clements’ testify in the trial.

Honce described the Clements as “fact witnesses” who would tell jurors “that Mr. Peña was working legally and lawfully to gather information” about the 2022 election.

The Clements’ testimony could bolster Peña’s argument that he was trying to collect data from county officials about the election results, Honce told the judge.

“Part of our defense is that he was trying to pursue this in a non-violent way,” Honce said. “Why would he resort to violence when he was gathering information legally and lawfully?”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Cordova told the judge that David Clements is a “known election denier” and questioned the value of the Clements’ testimony to a jury.

“We’re very concerned about what direction this could go,” Cordova said.

Peña’s trial on 13 federal counts is expected to begin later this year, but the date of the trial has not been finalized.

Peña was indicted by a federal grand jury in May 2023, alleging “Peña organized a shooting spree that targeted the homes of four elected officials and their families” in December and January 2022.

Prosecutors allege that Peña was motivated by his election loss to incumbent Democratic Rep. Miguel Garcia in November 2022. Peña later said on social media that he believed the election was “rigged.”

David Clements said in a phone interview Friday that he and his wife, Erin, have analyzed problems with election machines and have given “general advice” to people who suspect they have unfairly lost an election.

But Clements said he has not communicated with Peña or relied on him to collect data about the 2022 election.

“He’s not an expert,” Clements said of Peña. “We wouldn’t rely on a layperson that doesn’t have a discipline or subject matter expertise to do the work that we did.”

Federal prosecutors allege Peña paid two co-defendants to help target the homes of Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboa, former commissioner Debbie O’Malley, House Speaker Javier Martínez and state Sen. Linda Lopez.

No one was injured in the incidents, but a bullet penetrated the bedroom where Lopez’s daughter, then 10, was sleeping.

Peña is accused of hiring co-defendants Demetrio Trujillo, 42, and his son, Jose Trujillo, 22, to help carry out the shootings.

Both co-defendants pleaded guilty earlier this year to multiple federal charges and face sentences of up to life in prison. Neither man has been scheduled for sentencing.

Honce also said Friday she plans to contest information provided by Demetrio Trujillo that Peña himself fired an AR-style rifle while sitting in a truck between Demetrio Trujillo and his son.