New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D), running against Republican Mark Ronchetti in the state’s highly contested gubernatorial race, helped free a convicted criminal early from prison who went on to murder his ex-girlfriend.
During Wednesday evening’s gubernatorial debate, Ronchetti called out Grisham for her record of releasing hundreds of convicts early from prison while her appointees on the parole board have also helped free dozens of convicts from prison on early release.
Ronchetti noted the case of 27-year-old Christopher Beltran, who had been serving time in New Mexico prison when Grisham’s parole board granted him early release as part of her executive order that freed about 700 convicts from prison since April 2020.
Following Beltran’s early prison release, he went to the home of his former girlfriend, Dominique Gonzales, where he shot and killed her. Just last month, Beltran pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Gonzales’s death. Ronchetti said during the debate:
[Chris Beltran’s] story is shocking. He was released early from prison and then he was on the phone from prison, before being released, talking … to his girlfriend saying he was coming to get her and he would get a gun within two days and he would come to her front door.
“He made good on that promise. He showed up at her door four days later and shot her,” Ronchetti said.
In addition to Beltran, Grisham’s parole board also helped free early from prison a convict involved in the largest fentanyl bust in American history. Members of the cartel associated with the fentanyl bust actually told the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that they chose New Mexico for their operation because of its lax criminal penalties.
Others released early from prison by Grisham include those convicted for robbery, extreme cruelty to animals, and drug dealing.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.