Afghan refugee stands trial in first of 3 killings that shocked Albuquerque's Muslim community - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
Fear coursed through the Muslim community in New Mexico's largest city over several days in the summer of 2022 as authorities scrambled to determine if race or religion might have been behind the ambush-style killings of three men from the community.
It was not long before the investigation shifted away from possible hate crimes to what prosecutors on Tuesday described as the "willful and very deliberate" actions of another member of the Muslim community – Muhammad Syed, an Afghan refugee.
Prosecutors delivered opening statements in what is the first trial for Syed, 53, who settled in the U.S. several years ago with his family.
Syed, who speaks Pashto and no English, has remained in custody without bond since his arrest. He is charged with three counts of murder and four charges of tampering with evidence. Police also have identified him as the suspect in the killing of a fourth Muslim man, but no charges have been filed in that case.
Syed faces separate trials for each victim, the first being 41-year-old Aftab Hussein. The other trials will happen over the course of the coming months.
Syed denied involvement in the killings after being detained just days after police put out a public plea for help with the unsolved killings that had rocked Albuquerque's Muslim community. Authorities had shared photographs of a vehicle believed to be involved in the crimes, resulting in tips that led to Syed.
Police stopped him in his vehicle in August 2022 more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) from Albuquerque. He told authorities he was on his way to Texas to find a new home for his family, saying he was concerned about the killings in Albuquerque.
Prosecutors painted a picture for jurors of the night Hussein was killed, saying it was around 10 p.m. when he pulled up to his apartment complex and parked. Hussein had just stepped out of his car, still holding his keys in his hand, when gunfire erupted and he was struck multiple times.
Deputy District Attorney David Waymire showed jurors the rifle he said Syed used, telling them it was found during a subsequent search of his home. He also told jurors that forensic examination determined that casings found at the scene had been fired from that weapon.
Cellphone records indicated that Syed was at the scene before and during the shooting and that Syed had saved a note in his phone — 12 minutes before the shooting — that talked about killing Hussein, Waymire said.
"The evidence will show this was a willful and very deliberate killing," he said. "And the evidence will show Muhammad Syed is guilty."
While some court documents remain sealed, others shed no light on a possible motive, leaving the community struggling to understand why Hussein and the other men were targeted. Prosecutors offered no further insight during their opening statements and didn't discuss any interactions that Syed might have had with the victim.
Defense attorney Thomas Clark told jurors that prosecutors have no evidence that Syed was the one who pulled the trigger and that there were others living in his home who also had access to the rifle, his car and his phone. Clark said the forensic evidence that will be presented by prosecutors does not include any fingerprints or DNA that would implicate his client.
"I ask you during the course of this trial to pay very close attention to what you hear and pay an equal amount of attention to what you don't hear," Clark said. "A determination can't be based on speculation or conjecture."
Prosecutors during previous court hearings described Syed as having a violent history. His public defenders have argued that previous allegations of domestic violence never resulted in convictions.
Syed also is accused of killing Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, a 27-year-old urban planner who was gunned down Aug. 1 while taking his evening walk, and Naeem Hussain, who was shot four days later as he sat in his vehicle outside a refugee resettlement agency on the city's south side.
The judge is prohibiting prosecutors from directly introducing as evidence statements Syed made to a detective while being questioned. Defense attorneys argued that Syed's rights were violated because the detective, through an interpreter, did not adequately inform Syed of his right to a court-appointed attorney.
Police officers and detectives testified Tuesday about arriving at the scene after Hussein had been killed. They found him lying next to his car with multiple gunshot wounds — from his ear and neck down to his legs with exit wounds in his feet.
Prosecutors showed photos of Hussein's bullet-riddled car and said the victim was killed nearly instantly. They also said that one of the projectiles recovered from his body and casings found at the scene had been fired from the rifle seized from Syed's home.
NM Supreme Court hears appeal of community solar - Hannah Grover, New Mexico Political Report
regulators in 2022.
The community solar rule came as a result of a law passed in 2021. Community solar allows people who are unable to install rooftop solar to purchase solar power from an array that is not owned by the utility. The electricity is then delivered to the customer using the utility’s infrastructure and the subscribers receive bill credits for the amount of their electrical usage that comes from the community solar array.
After the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission adopted the rule, Southwestern Public Service Company filed the appeal and was later joined by the other two investor-owned utilities.
The PRC argues that the appeal is based on misinterpretations of the Community Solar Act as well as misinterpretations and misrepresentations of the community solar rule.
Utilities say the rule could lead to people who choose not to subscribe to receive power from a community solar array subsidizing those who do and that it should be reworked to better protect consumers.
One way that the utilities say the rule creates a subsidy is by preventing them from subtracting the cost of transmission from the bill credits. The PRC argues that this is a misinterpretation of the rule and that customers will still be paying the transmission costs through rates based on their usage. The state regulators say that if the transmission costs were subtracted from the credit, it would result in the customers paying twice for transmission.
The bill credit is based on the subscriber’s share of electricity generated, which is power that the utility does not have to produce itself or purchase for the customer, the PRC states
The PRC argues that the credit is not based on consumption of electricity. By providing locally-generated power to customers, the PRC further states that the community solar arrays may actually lower the transmission costs that the utilities pay to move the electricity from power plants to customers.
The utilities further oppose the use of a third-party contractor to administer the program, but the PRC argues that it is necessary to have the contractor involved because the agency does not have the capacity to manage such a program and says it is not uncommon for state agencies to contract with third-party administrators and that it did so in compliance with the state’s procurement code.
Additionally, SPS, which is leading the appeal effort, says that it was deprived of due process rights when the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission rejected an advice notice related to the program without allowing the utility an opportunity for a hearing. The PRC argued it was not required to grant that hearing because the rejection was a simple observation that the advice notices violated the community solar rule and that when a compliant advice notice was filed, state regulators approved it without a hearing.
Advocates say the appeal served as an expensive delay tactic.
Attorney Jason Marks represented several advocacy groups as well as the City of Las Cruces. He told the justices that the appeal has created significant delays in construction of community solar arrays despite the PRC denying a request by the utilities to delay implementation of the program until the court renders a decision.
That is because the companies that were given contracts to build and operate community solar arrays face a level of uncertainty as the case remains pending.
Marks said if the rule is overturned, the projects that were selected cannot move forward.
“If you were a financier, you wouldn’t put $20 or $50 million into one of these projects,” he said.
At the same time, the PRC is required under state law to present about the implementation of the community solar program to legislative committees in November. That presentation will help inform potential expansion of the program, which is currently capped at 200 megawatts statewide divided between the three investor-owned utilities.
“The legislature expected the program to be going by now and that the PRC would be able to report back to them in November about how it’s played out and what needs to be improved,” Marks said. “We’ll be lucky to be pouring foundations.”
River runs past, but water isn’t for New Mexico - By Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
Rio Grande water released from Caballo Dam over the weekend has flowed 125 miles across Southern New Mexico, bound for irrigation in far west Texas and northern Mexico.
In order to send water down, federal officials with the Bureau of Reclamation opened the gates at Caballo. On Saturday, the water roared out at 2,000 cubic feet per second, splashing up white founts stretching along the valley below the dam, and flushing unlucky fish out with it.
A lone gull, with heavy beats of black-tipped wings, dove and dove again, in an unfruitful hunt for slippery silver fishes.
The river crept its way through the streambed, above and below, swallowing isolated pools of groundwater.
But the water release is not for New Mexico farmers – yet.
The water passed Las Cruces early Saturday afternoon and farmers in Texas said the Rio Grande was hitting Country Club Road, a state line divide. Texas Irrigation officials said they anticipate the first deliveries to farmers by the end of the week.
“We will pressurize the entire system, divert to Mexico [March] 13th, flush out debris, and start deliveries on March 14th or 15th,” said Jay Ornelas, the manager of El Paso County Water Improvement District No. 1.
Mexico will receive deliveries on Wednesday, officials with the International Boundary and Water Commission told Source New Mexico.
In years – more often, decades back – irrigation water deliveries started in March and April. For Texas, Ornelas said the district plans a full allocation of four-acre feet will go to pecan orchards, potential cotton and other crops.
El Paso County Water Improvement District No. 1, often shortened to EP No.1, is expecting to parcel out four acre-feet this year to members.
“I want to say it’s been at least 4 to 5 years now, in 2019 was the last time there was a four acre-foot allocation,” said Jay Ornelas, the manager of the district.
Much of that is “carryover” water held in Elephant Butte, which are defined as unused portions from prior diversions.
“Hopefully we’ll have as good a snowpack as we did last year and we can finish off this season run efficiently and carry over a significant amount and have some of that runoff come in and put us at a good amount to be able to start early next year as well,” Ornelas said.
Officials with Elephant Butte Irrigation District, a quasi-government agency which manages irrigation for Sierra and Doña Ana counties, is starting presentations this week for its own irrigation season.
The district hasn’t issued its public schedule yet, said Gary Esslinger, the district manager, in a phone call Friday, but plans to at a Wednesday, March 13 meeting.
“At that meeting there will be presentations of the forecast, the allocation, the allotment, and then the announcements of when we should have growers meetings,” Esslinger said.
On Monday, families flocked to La Llorona park as the sun dipped low. Dog walkers and cyclists passed by lit barbecue grills, as families picnicked and children played. The rush of the river accompanied their laughter.
MEETING INFO
The Elephant Butte Irrigation District board meetings are public, and available in-person and online.
When: Wednesday, March 13,9 a.m.
Where: 530 South Melendres in Las Cruces
Online: To join via zoom: Click here or check the agenda online here.
NMSU pays $865,000 to settle discrimination lawsuits – Albuquerque Journal, KUNM News
Two women who said they were discriminated against by New Mexico State University have settled separate lawsuits with the school for a total of $865,000.
The Albuquerque Journalreports former NMSU provost Carol Parker and Azadeh Osanloo, a tenured professor of educational leadership and administration, each filed the suits in late 2022. Both say they faced discrimination because of their gender and then encountered retaliation.
The women alleged violations of the state’s Human Rights Act and the Whistleblower Protection Act.
Parker was provost for three years before being fired on Jan. 31, 2022 and now lives outside New Mexico.
Parker said she found evidence NMSU was engaging in pay disparity on the basis of race and gender. But she said she was told by the former chancellor and former president to implement organizational restructuring and policies unpopular with faculty instead of investigating. She later faced a no-confidence vote resolution by the Faculty Senate.
Osanloo will resign voluntarily from NMSU in May and says in her suit she faced retaliation for making public statements about NMSU’s leadership, and gender and racial discrimination. Her suit argued NMSU engaged in an illegal attempt to deny her a job that went to a less-qualified white male faculty member.
NMSU has admitted no liability or wrongdoing in the settlements.
Unemployment up slightly but most sectors see job gains in January – KUNM News
New Mexico’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose slightly in January from the same time a year ago, to 4% from 3.6%. But it remained unchanged from December.
The Department of Workforce Solutions reported the January numbers were slightly higher than the national unemployment rate of 3.7%.
Nearly all sectors, public and private, added jobs. Local, state and federal government job numbers rose. In the private sector, most gains were in service-providing industries, including professional and business services, private education, and health services.
However, employment in transportation, warehousing, and utilities was down. Wholesale trade jobs also saw a decline. And employment in information and in financial services was also down.
On a county level, Los Alamos had the lowest unemployment rate at 1.9% and Luna had the highest at 13.5%.
Bernalillo County Sheriff launches animal cruelty reporting portal - Elizabeth McCall, City Desk ABQ
This story was originally published by City Desk ABQ
The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office has a new Animal Cruelty Report Form on its website to help notify the county’s Animal Cruelty Task Force of suspected animal abuse.
Anyone who has witnessed animal cruelty can fill out the request form and remain anonymous if they choose. The form has a space to report the address of the incident, to describe what was witnessed and to upload photos if they are available. There is also information on what the physical and environmental signs of animal cruelty are.
“We know that animal cruelty often leads to other crimes,” said Jayme Fuller, BCSO’s public information officer. “So if there’s an animal that’s being abused, or that is undergoing a cruelty-type situation, a lot of times if there are kids in the home. And then the kids are also dealing with that or if there’s elderly in the home, elderly are also dealing with that. So it’s a really huge deal.”
This was theexact scenario at a Cedar Crest residence BCSO investigated in January that included a severe case of animal abuse and elder neglect. After finding numerous animals—dead and alive—on the property, BCSO filed 19 charges of animal cruelty against 74-year-old Deborah Battaglino.
“We want to have a portal now for the community to be able to report animal cruelty to us,” Fuller said. “Our task force wants to know about it and we want to be able to make contact with these people to see if we can save any of these animals’ lives and try to ensure the safety of animals in Bernalillo County. This portal is going to be another way for the community to reach out to our detectives directly and send any information that they might have.”