Ronchetti ad criticizes Grisham's early release of prisoners: 'She personally ordered the early release of hundreds of dangerous criminals'

Politics
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Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham during her 2021 State of the State address last month | facebook.com/GovMLG/

New Mexico Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Ronchetti is blaming current Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham for the state’s crime problems. Ronchetti is using an ad campaign to criticize an executive order Grisham issued during the pandemic that allowed 700 prisoners to be released early.

"She personally ordered the early release of hundreds of dangerous criminals,” the ad claims, according to KOAT.

The prisoners released would have been released within 30 days. The order also said the person being released can't be serving a sentence for felony DWI, domestic violence, assault, and assault on a police officer. They also couldn't be a sex offender or serve time for a firearm enhancement. The executive order was in place for nearly two and a half years before being rescinded shortly after the ads started to air, though that could be more coincidence than politics.

KOAT legal expert John Day suggested, "The reality is those 700 were going to be released anywhere from one to four weeks anyway.”

Ronchetti's ad points out that some of the offenders went on to commit other crimes, and according to KOAT, the governor's office has acknowledged that nine of the 700 people released early went on to get arrested again before they would have ultimately been released.

KOAT reported one of the offenders, a man from Roswell, was arrested for murder after being released, but he was arrested nearly a year after he would have been released anyway.  "If you have 700 inmates and you look at the recidivism rates, which are people who re-offend after being released from prison, it's probably pretty equivalent,” Day said. “And the 30-day window wouldn't have made much of a difference one way or the other."

A statement to KOAT from the governor’s office said similar executive orders were implanted in several states during the pandemic.  The statement pointed out that the order “was rescinded in conjunction with recent corrections department updates to pandemic protocols, in line with updated health guidance.....as you can see in the executive order itself, it had strict parameters in order to protect public health in the face of a new and quickly-worsening global pandemic without being a detriment to public safety. Similar executive orders were implemented in many states across the country.”