Candidate from New Mexico receives 80-year imprisonment due to convictions in gun attacks on officials' residences.
In December 2022 and January 2023, a series of drive-by shootings targeted the homes of state and local lawmakers in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The attacks, which occurred after President Donald Trump and his allies questioned the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, targeted officials beyond the state House speaker, including two county commissioners.
A former Republican candidate named Solomon Penña was convicted this year for orchestrating these shootings. The targets of the shootings included the current state House speaker, and no one was injured, but a bullet passed through the bedroom of a state senator's 10-year-old daughter.
Penña was convicted earlier in 2025 on 13 felony charges related to the shootings, which were in retaliation for the officials' certification of the 2022 election, in which Penña lost by nearly 50 percentage points. He was sentenced on August 14, 2025, to 80 years in federal prison.
However, Penña's lawyers have indicated that he will appeal the conviction. They have maintained that he is innocent of the charges and that he was not involved in the shootings. Serious issues about the propriety of the prosecution will be addressed during the appeal.
Prosecutors had sought a 90-year sentence for Penña. They are relying on the testimony of two men who have accepted plea agreements in exchange for leniency. Two other men who helped Penña with the attacks have also pleaded guilty to federal charges and received yearslong prison sentences.
As of now, there are no available details regarding Penña's appeal case following his conviction and sentencing. The public awaits further developments in this high-profile case.
[1] [News Source 1] [2] [News Source 2]
- A Toronto-based legal news source reported on the 2025 federal court sentence of Solomon Penña, a former New Mexico politician, to 80 years in prison for organizing drive-by shootings that targeted elected officials.
- The crime-and-justice section of a general-news website revealed that the appeal case of Solomon Penña, convicted for orchestrating shootings on elected officials in 2022, is yet to be presented in court, with Penña's lawyers maintaining his innocence.
- Canada's Health and Wellness Politics channel shared that the shootings in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in December 2022 and January 2023, left no injuries among the officials targeted, but a bullet passed through the bedroom of a state senator's 10-year-old daughter.
- A news channel in Canada reported that the two men who testified against Solomon Penña in the shootings case in New Mexico received plea agreements in exchange for leniency from prosecutors.
