New Mexico’s top prosecutor said Friday that the state’s five Republican electors cannot be prosecuted under the current law for filing election certificates that falsely declared Donald Trump the winner of the 2020 presidential race.

However, Democratic Attorney General Raúl Torrez is making recommendations to state lawmakers that he says would enhance the security of the state’s electoral process and provide legal authority for prosecuting similar conduct in the future.

New Mexico is one of several states where Republican electors attempted to cast ballots indicating that Trump had won, a strategy at the center of criminal charges against Trump and his associates. Democratic officials launched separate investigations in some states, resulting in indictments against GOP electors.

  • FuglyDuck
    link
    English
    6111 months ago

    I dunno… I’d imagine there’s something about “fraud” and “impersonating a government official” and, you know… TRYING TO OVERTURN A LEGITIMATE ELECTION!

    This guy’s making excuses.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      411 months ago

      What’s the law say? What’s the loophole that the fake electors exploited? What’s the change that the AG proposes?

      Do you know anything about what you’re talking about?

      • @jpreston2005
        link
        511 months ago

        gee i wonder how all those other fake electors are being prosecuted then… remains a mystery

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              711 months ago

              Then they’re not relevant, friendo. This article is about the New Mexico AG, who by definition can only bring state charges against people, explaining that he can’t bring state charges against these people. Bringing up other people in other states facing federal charges is about as relevant as bringing up recent criminal cases from Vietnam.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        411 months ago

        Loophole was they added fine print

        In New Mexico and Pennsylvania, fake electors added a caveat saying the certificate was submitted in case they were later recognized as duly elected, qualified electors. That would only have been possible if Trump had won any of several dozen legal battles he waged against states in the weeks after the election.

        • @Dkarma
          link
          -111 months ago

          Imo this is what they were supposed to do. Depending on other circumstances I’d say the same as the ag

    • @Ensign_Crab
      link
      English
      -3011 months ago

      This guy’s making excuses.

      Of course he is. He’s a Democrat.

  • @jpreston2005
    link
    28
    edit-2
    11 months ago

    seems like this is akin to the same “qualified immunity” crap that cops have. I don’t give a fuck if there’s not a state law written specifically addressing this particular instance of participating in a fraudulent scheme to overturn the results of a legitimate election. Every other state where this happened the fake electors are facing federal charges.

    Except here, in New Mexico, where the democrat attorney general for the state decided that THEY would do a state investigation instead of throwing it up to the federal level. It is within this narrow window that he decided they can’t prosecute them. Raul Torrez. This man. He’s the one making the decision to not go for federal charges. He is the person responsible for letting these people off the hook.

    • plz1
      link
      English
      1411 months ago

      I’m pretty sure forging government documents is illegal everywhere, both at the state and federal level. They just don’t want to prosecute, otherwise they’d “find” a law to apply to this.

  • Political Incorruption
    link
    2611 months ago

    Why the fuck is the legal hole still gaping three years later? Our legal system is garbage.

  • AutoTL;DRB
    link
    fedilink
    English
    511 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico’s top prosecutor said Friday that the state’s five Republican electors cannot be prosecuted under the current law for filing election certificates that falsely declared Donald Trump the winner of the 2020 presidential race.

    Republican Party of New Mexico Chairman Steve Pearce said Friday that the state faced numerous election challenges that had the possibility of going before a court.

    In 2020, President Joe Biden won the vote in New Mexico by roughly 11 percentage points — the largest margin among the states where so-called fake electors have been implicated.

    Three fake electors also have been charged in Georgia alongside Trump and others in a sweeping indictment accusing them of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to illegally overturn the results of the presidential election.

    While saying it was disgraceful that New Mexicans were enlisted in a plot to “undermine democracy,” Torrez acknowledged that the conduct by GOP electors in New Mexico was not subject to criminal prosecution.

    Michelle Lujan Grisham and the Democratic-controlled Legislature to amend state election code to give prosecutors more latitude to pursue charges in these types of cases in the future.


    The original article contains 689 words, the summary contains 190 words. Saved 72%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    111 months ago

    That’s a big ole’ desert that state has. Wouldn’t it be nice for those fake electors to be given a courtesy tour, to show the state’s appreciation for their misguided efforts but no hard feelings, of the deep wilderness?