Life prison term upheld for New Mexico man who killed family
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The New Mexico Supreme Court on Thursday has upheld the life prison sentence of a man who was convicted of fatally shooting his parents and three younger siblings when he was a teenager.
In a dispositional order Thursday, the state’s high court rejected arguments by Nehemiah Griego that his sentence was unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment because it denied him an opportunity for treatment and rehabilitation.
Griego was 15 at the time of the 2013 killings at his family’s home in Albuquerque.
He was convicted of intentional child abuse resulting in death and two concurrent seven-year sentences for second-degree murder for his parent’s deaths.
Griego was sentenced to three concurrent life sentences with the possibility of parole after serving 30 years.
A district court judge found Griego not amendable to treatment as a juvenile and in 2019 sentenced him as an adult to the state prison system.
Now 25, Greigo will be eligible for parole when he’s 52.
In his appeal, Griego also argued his convictions should be overturned because his trial attorney was ineffective.
The court order said Griego “merely surmises his treatment will be inadequate” in prison and he “failed to establish that he does not have a ‘meaningful opportunity for release’ after serving” his sentence.
Griego’s legal team is meeting to determine the most appropriate next step in his case.
“It is easy to give up on children who commit terrible crimes and write them off as hopeless. But the truth is that these crimes are rooted in trauma and mental illness and many of the children involved can and will eventually be rehabilitated,” said Allison Jaramillo, Griego’s attorney.
“Instead of offering this chance for Nehemiah by finding his three life sentences to be cruel and unusual punishment, the Supreme Court’s decision means that he will spend his life in prison for crimes he committed as a child. New Mexico should protect children from the cruel fate Nehemiah is now facing, not give up on them,” Jaramillo added.
