NM Governor to ABC-7: Compound suspects “should never have been released”

Governor Susana Martinez told ABC-7 Tuesday the five suspects from a northern New Mexico compound facing child abuse charges should not be released from jail.

“The dangerous accused criminals in the Taos compound case should never have been released on bail yesterday,” Martinez told ABC-7 by phone, reading a statement on her Facebook page.

The suspects smiled in court as Judge Sarah Backus ruled that they be released on bond. As of Tuesday, they will still face trial, but not behind bars.

Authorities arrested eleven children at a filthy compound in Amalia, New Mexico, last week. They also found the body of three-year-old Abdul-Ghani Wahhaj. His father, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, was one of the five suspects arrested.

Defense Attorney Tom Clark told ABC-7 that the judge made the right decision.

“The only issue yesterday had nothing to do with guilt or innocence,” Clark said. “It’s just, ‘Could these people be released from jail and society be protected at the same time?’ Judge Backus absolutely did the right thing.”

The judge’s decision came Monday evening after a lengthy hearing in Taos during which prosecutors said the five defendants were preparing for a dangerous anti-government mission. Prosecutors presented evidence of the firearms training done by Siraj Ibn Wahhaj and described a compound fortified by old tires and wooden pallets. Court documents state the suspects were training the eleven children found in the compound for school shooting.

Judge Sarah Backus said although she was concerned by “troubling facts,” prosecutors failed to articulate any specific threats to the community. She set a $20,000 bond for each suspect and ordered that they wear ankle monitors and have weekly contact with their attorneys. The suspects are forbidden to hold firearms. Wahhaj, the father of a boy kidnapped in Georgia, would not be released because an arrest warrant has been issued for him in that state.

Authorities said Wahhaj had performed rituals in an attempt to rid his disabled child of demons before the child died. The remains of the missing Georgia boy were found buried in the complex.

FBI Agent Travis Taylor testified Monday that one of the eleven children found at the makeshift compound said during an interview that the Georgia boy, Abdul-ghani Wahhaj, had died in February.

Public defenders argue Wahhaj was trying to heal the boy by reading passages from the Quran. Prosecutors argued that Wahhaj was denying the boy medication.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CONTRIBUTED TO THIS ARTICLE