(Reuters) -A failed Republican candidate in New Mexico was jailed for 80 years on Wednesday for contracting gunmen to carry out drive-by shootings on the homes of Democratic officials after his 2022 election defeat.
Solomon Pena orchestrated the attacks in Albuquerque, New Mexico’s largest city, weeks after losing his bid for a state house seat. He was driven by conspiracy theories he had been a victim of election fraud, federal prosecutors said.
Pena was convicted of 13 felony charges earlier this year for attacks on four officials in December 2022 and January 2023, including the current state house speaker.
No one was hurt in the shootings, which followed other politically motivated violence such as the hammer attack on the husband of U.S. Representative Nancy Pelosi.
“Violence and intimidation have no place in our elections,” U.S. Attorney for New Mexico Ryan Ellison said in a statement following the sentencing.
Pena’s lawyer Nicholas Hart said his client would appeal the conviction.
Two men who said they were hired by Pena for the attacks pleaded guilty in 2024.
After he failed to be elected, Pena pressured members of the Bernalillo County Board of Commissioners not to certify the results. When they refused, Pena recruited Jose Trujillo and Demetrio Trujillo to carry out the shootings, prosecutors said.
False and unfounded claims of election fraud exploded after President Donald Trump refused to accept defeat in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
(Reporting By Andrew Hay; Editing by Kate Mayberry)
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