It’s Not Going Away Soon

[CrimsonPhantom]

Rick Wright’s 2022 in review: Moments of great triumph (13-0 Lobos) paralleled by a senseless tragedy

Dishonorable mention: The Nov. 19 shooting that killed UNM student Brandon Travis and put NMSU basketball player Mike Peake, who fired the fatal shot, in the hospital with a leg wound – all because of a fight that took place at the Lobos-Aggies football game in Las Cruces on Oct. 15.

And because Peake packed a pistol on a road trip, then sneaked out with some teammates after curfew at their Albuquerque hotel, under the noses of the NMSU coaching staff.

Such a tragedy. Such a waste.

Leaving out the facts to push a narrative.

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[CrimsonPhantom]

There is no word yet on whether New Mexico State University coaches, players and administrators will be charged for their involvement in holding on to evidence following a fatal shooting that occurred before a basketball game in Albuquerque.

But the state's newly elected attorney general says something needs to be done.

"I was very troubled, by the way, in which the institutions and some of the leaders in those institutions sort of handled the situation,” said Attorney General Raul Torrez, who took office last week.

Torrez was the district attorney at the time of the shooting.

In the early morning hours of Nov. 19, New Mexico State University basketball player Mike Peake shot and killed University of New Mexico student Brandon Travis. State police say Travis, two friends, and a 17-year-old female lured Peake to the UNM campus to assault him.

After the shooting, Peake is seen on video approaching a yellow Camaro, where he meets three of his teammates — Issa Muhammad, Marcelus Avery and Anthony Roy. Peake is seen putting items into the trunk right before the car drives off. Police arrive after the Camaro drove off.

“For reasons that are not hard to understand, this was not handled in the, let's say, the usual fashion,” Torrez said. “I was very surprised that, for example, pieces of evidence ended up in different locations."

It took hours before state police recovered all of the items taken from Peake. State police ultimately had to pull over the team bus after it left town. They found the tablet in the bus, the gun with another coach and the cell phone was with an assistant athletic director in Las Cruces.

"Having to be pulled over by the state police after leaving the city, those are things that that can be prevented,” Torrez said. "These are unique circumstances. Hopefully, we will never have anything like this happen again in our state."

He said when he left office, investigators were waiting for forensic evidence from cell phones that were confiscated.

“I don't want to comment on, you know, the possibility even of a charge,” Torrez said. “If there's evidence of that, that's a decision for my successor at the district attorney's office to make."

But as attorney general, he wants to make sure all universities understand they need to corporate with law enforcement.

“We still have an institutional role in terms of being the chief legal officer for the state to make sure that state agencies and state institutions understand what the expectations are in terms of cooperating with law enforcement,” Torrez said.

After Target 7 reported what happened to the evidence, New Mexico State University suspended the three players who took Peake's phone, gun and tablet - for one game.

They also hired an Albuquerque law firm to do an investigation. In an email this week to Target 7, the university says the private firm is still conducting interviews, and they are also reviewing various rules and policies.

As for the coaches and administrators, they said, "no disciplinary action has been taken against them at this time.”

The three players involved in taking the evidence have been averaging a combined 30 points a game.

A spokeswoman for newly-appointed District Attorney Sam Bregman said they are still waiting for more information from the state police before they determine if further charges will be filed.

www.koat.com/article/faa-system-outage-notice-to-air/42460412

[CrimsonPhantom]

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – One of the suspects involved in the attack on New Mexico State University men’s basketball player Mike Peake pleaded guilty Thursday. Jonathan Smith took a plea deal and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit aggravated battery with great bodily harm and tampering with evidence.

Smith is one of three people charged for the attack that ended in the shooting of Peake and Brandon Travis. As part of the plea deal, Smith faces up to three years in prison. He has agreed to testify against the others in the case.

www.krqe.com/news/crime/suspect-in-attack-on-new-mexico-state-university-mens-basketball-player-takes-plea-deal/

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