Telles Sentenced In Las Cruces Murder Case
by ABC-7 Reporter Rachel Abell
LAS CRUCES –A man convicted of killing a 14-year-old Las Cruces teenager learned his fate on Thursday.
Twenty-five-year-old Frankie Telles was sentenced to 30 and 1/2 years for second-degree murder as well as weapons charges. A Las Cruces jury convicted Telles of the 2004 murder of Jorge Olivas, a Sierra Middle School student, in May of this year.
Family members of Olivas, including Olivas’ twin brother, cried after Judge Stephen Bridgforth read Telles’ sentence in Dona Ana County Courtroom Thursday afternoon.
According to the prosecution, Telles shot and killed Olivas right after Olivas left a Las Cruces Teen Center. The prosecution said the two had been fighting.
The defense maintained Telles acted self-defense. They also said his mental problems were to blame.
Telles addressed the courtroom for the first time today, pleading for leniency.
Telles faces the possibility of nine more years added on to the sentence for another weapons charge brought against him while he was held at the Dona Ana County Detention Center.
