January 29, 2016

Senator Michael Sanchez

Majority Floor Leader
New Mexico Capitol
Room 119
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501
Dear Senator Sanchez,
Although we thanked you previously for taking the time to meet with us, your actions
since that meeting are disheartening, to say the least.
As we told you before, we have all lost a child to gun violence which is the worst thing
someone can experience, the loss of a child, again particularly true when that child is
murdered.
What is worse, while you committed during our meeting that you would give the
legislation we are supporting every consideration, you referred the bills we discussed to
three (3) committees ensuring that they have no chance of making it to the Senate floor.
While we understand that your chosen profession is to sometimes keep repeat offenders
out of jail, we would hope that you would use your power as the Senate Majority Leader
to advocate for victims instead of criminals. Instead, you have used that power to protect
the types of people who are committing the most dangerous crimes. While we again
agree that rehabilitation and treatment is part of the overall solution, there are individuals
who are unwilling or unable to be rehabilitated. Those criminals need to be in jail so that
they are unable to cause further devastation to our communities and families.
You also seem completely unwilling to acknowledge the serious violent crime problem
facing our state and the need to do something about it. Just yesterday, there was a police
officer-involved shooting in Valencia County, a county you represent. Both Attorney
General Hector Balderas and FBI statistics indicate that New Mexico is now the second
most dangerous state in the country. Homicides in Albuquerque increased by over fifty
percent in 2015. We feel enough is enough; something has to be done to fix this problem.
The laws that are currently in place seem to benefit violent criminals rather than the
victims.
I am again including a summary of the legislation that we are advocating for. All of these
bills have received bi-partisan support in the NM House of Representatives. We believe
this legislation would help keep our families and communities safe.
1. Three Strikes (Lillys Law) - HB56

2. Access to Juvenile Violent Felony Offenses (Jaydons Law) - HB72

3. Authorizing Local Governments to Impose Curfews (Stevies Law) - HB29
4. Increasing Penalties for Intentional Child Abuse Resulting in Death (Baby
Briannas Law Expansion) - HB69
5. Authorizing Judges to Keep Violent Criminals in Jail Pending trial - SJR1
We again feel that you have sole discretion to determine if these bills are brought up for a
vote on the senate floor. We hope you will reverse course and do the right thing for the
people of our state.
We look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
RObD New Mexico
Nicole Chavez
Veronica Garcia
Alan Garcia
Ivon Ulibarri
Rosie Encinas