20-03-2025
Defense: Solomon Peña is ‘right-wing election denier,' not shooting spree ‘mastermind'
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Jury deliberation began Wednesday in the federal trial against Solomon Peña. The former New Mexico House of Representatives candidate is accused of orchestrating shootings at the homes of four Bernalillo County Democrats who he believed were responsible for his loss in 2022.
A federal judge handed the case to the 12-person jury, comprised of six women and six men, after closing arguments wrapped up Wednesday.
During the trial, the jury listened to more than five days of testimony from the federal prosecution's witnesses to prove the election interference case against Peña. The feds also presented text messages, cell phone location data, ballistics reports, videos of two shootings, photos, and confessions from two of the four co-conspirators—Jose Louise, and his dad, Demetrio Trujillo—who already took plea deals, admitting to their roles and detailing Peña's plan. 'He defined the conspiracy,' Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeremy Pena said of Peña. 'The evidence has shown this was his plan and no one else's.'
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AUSA Pena told jurors Peña targeted the people who certified the 2022 election—Bernalillo County Commissioners Adriann Barboa and Debbie O'Malley, his fellow Republican friend's political opponent, New Mexico House Speaker Javier Martinez, and a Democrat he hoped would end up scared to run for re-election, State Sen. Linda Lopez. 'The defendant masterminded the shooting spree against elected officials to retaliate and to advance his political plan,' AUSA Pena said in court.
The first shooting happened on Dec. 4, 2022, and the last on Jan. 3, 2023. Just hours after the final shooting, Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office deputies pulled over Jose Louise Trujillo and arrested him on an outstanding warrant. In the trunk of the vehicle, deputies found a Glock outfitted with a drum magazine and an AR-15.
Investigators were able to connect the car back to Peña and the guns to the shootings. The guns were shown in court throughout the trial—including Wednesday, when the prosecution reiterated to the jury that Peña shot the AR-15 at Senator Lopez's home. 'He was the aggressive one,' AUSA Pena told the jury.
Peña's defense team agreed the shootings happened but disputed that Peña orchestrated them or shot any gun. In closing arguments, the defense tried to sow doubt in the Trujillos' testimonies—calling them convicted criminals with drug addictions who said what the government wanted them to so they'd get time off their sentences. 'These men are fighting for their lives on the stand,' Defense Attorney Carter Harrison told the jury.
The defense said Peña was nothing more than 'a political science dork' and 'right-wing election denier' who asked the Trujillos to do surveillance—and the father-son duo escalated to violence on their own. The defense also did not call any witnesses during the trial.
Peña has spent the last two years behind bars awaiting this trial. In court Wednesday, he appeared to be paying close attention—raising his eyebrows a few times and blotting his face with a tissue once or twice. Otherwise, he didn't show much emotion.
Peña faces 13 charges, one of which is because he's already a convicted felon—so he can't possess a gun. Three were added recently—after Peña was accused of offering to pay two of his fellow inmates $10,000 each to kill the Trujillos.
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