A second man involved in the case where multiple Democratic politicians had bullets shot at their homes, allegedly orchestrated by a failed Republican candidate for a state House seat, pleaded guilty to federal offenses.
Demetrio Trujillo pleaded guilty this week to charges of conspiracy, two counts of interference with federally protected activities, using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence and discharging the firearm.
A hearing for sentencing has not yet been set, though Trujillo faces up to life in prison.
While Trujillo was involved, the alleged mastermind was Solomon Peña, a failed candidate for state House.
After Peña, a Republican, lost his race for state House, the news release said, he tried to dissuade the Bernalillo County Board of Commissioners from certifying the election results. Peña lost to longtime incumbent Democrat Miguel Garcia in a heavily Democratic district by nearly 50 points, 5,588 votes to 2,005 votes.
Earlier this year, Demetrio Trujillo’s son, Jose Trujillo, pled guilty to the charges.
The guilty plea for Demetrio Trujillo included the same narrative as the plea for his son earlier this year.
Demetrio Trujillo said Peña told him before the election that elections would be “rigged against him” then continued that narrative after the election in which the candidate lost handily.
Then, according to Demetrio Trujillo, Peña paid him “to pressure the members of the Bernalillo County Board of Commissioners to refuse to certify the results of the election.”
After the board certified the results, the scheme continued.
In all, Demetrio Trujillo admitted to firing at the houses of the dwellings of four elected officials, which had previously been established as Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboa, then-Bernalillo County Commissioner Debbie O’Malley, state Sen. Linda Lopez and speaker of the House Rep. Javier Martinez.
In cooperating, Demetrio Trujillo, like his son, will likely face leniency in sentencing, at the discretion of the judge.
The trial for Solomon Peña is currently scheduled for later this year.