New Mexico
New Mexico jury convicts ex-officer in fatal shooting of Black man at gas station
SANTA FE, N.M. — A former police officer was found guilty Wednesday of voluntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a Black man during a 2022 confrontation at a New Mexico gas station.
Las Cruces police Officer Brad Lunsford’s verdict in a jury trial is the latest outcome in cases that prosecutors have linked to systematic brutality against Black people by members of law enforcement, nearly five years after the May 2020 killing of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis.
Lunsford, who is white, had pleaded not guilty. His attorney, Jose Coronado, said he will ask the judge to review the verdict for its legal sufficiency.
“While I respect the jury’s verdict, I am extremely disappointed in it. I don’t believe the state met its burden,” he said in an email to The Associated Press.
Prosecutors said he shot Presley Eze at point-blank range in a scuffle after police responded to a 911 call from a gas station attendant who reported that Eze stole beer. Eze allegedly placed his hand on a second officer’s stun gun before being shot.
Attorney General Raúl Torrez said the use of deadly force was not reasonable, noting that Lunsford immediately drew his service weapon and shot Eze in the back of the head.
“Today’s verdict reaffirms a fundamental principle: no one is above the law — not even those sworn to uphold it. Officer Lunsford’s actions were not just a tragic lapse in judgment; they were an egregious abuse of power that cost Presley Eze his life,” Torrez said in a statement after the verdict was announced.
The charge of voluntary manslaughter with a firearms enhancement carries a possible sentence of up to nine years in prison. Evidence at trial included police body camera video of the confrontation, in which police pulled Eze from a vehicle and the struggle ensued.
Philip Stinson, a professor of criminal justice at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, said most fatal shootings by on-duty officers are determined to be legally justified under precedent stemming from two 1980s-era U.S. Supreme Court rulings.
“It is incredibly difficult for a prosecutor to obtain a conviction in a jury trial in one of these cases, and that’s because jurors are very reluctant to second guess the split-second, often life-or-death decisions of an on-duty police officer in a potentially violent street encounter,” Stinson said. “Anything can happen, but it’s only in the most egregious cases.”
Records compiled by Stinson, university colleagues and students through the Police Integrity Research Group show that 205 nonfederal law enforcement officers have been arrested on criminal charges of homicide or manslaughter over the past 20 years, resulting in 66 convictions, 27 of them for manslaughter or homicide.
“If you do get a conviction, it’s often for the lesser offense,” Stinson said.
More than 900 fatal shootings by on-duty state and local law enforcement officers typically take place each year in the U.S., he said
In pursuing a criminal charge against Lunsford, Torrez described the killing of Eze as a tragedy and “yet another example of poor police tactics resulting in an unjustifiable use of force to subdue an individual resisting arrest for the commission of a minor crime.”
New Mexico
New Mexico (NMAA) High School Boys Basketball State Championship Brackets, Schedules – March 7, 2026
The 2026 New Mexico high school boys basketball state championships begin on Saturday, March 7, with 40 games in the first round of action.
High School on SI has brackets for every classification in the New Mexico high school basketball state brackets. The championship games begin on March 14 at the University of New Mexico – The Pit.
New Mexico (NMAA) High School Basketball State Championship Brackets, Schedule – March 7
No. 1 Volcano Vista vs. No. 16 Santa Fe – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 8 Las Cruces vs. No. 9 Albuquerque – 03/07, 4:00 PM MT
No. 5 Hobbs vs. No. 12 Organ Mountain – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 4 La Cueva vs. No. 13 Atrisco Heritage Academy – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 3 Rio Rancho vs. No. 14 Mayfield – 03/07, 4:00 PM MT
No. 6 Sandia vs. No. 11 Farmington – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 7 Centennial vs. No. 10 Carlsbad – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 2 Cleveland vs. No. 15 Alamogordo – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 1 Highland vs. No. 16 Grants – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 8 Belen vs. No. 9 Portales – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 5 Taos vs. No. 12 St. Pius X – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 4 Del Norte vs. No. 13 Valencia – 03/07, 7:00 PM MT
No. 3 Hope Christian vs. No. 14 Pojoaque Valley – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 6 Albuquerque Academy vs. No. 11 Goddard – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 7 Gallup vs. No. 10 Silver – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 2 Artesia vs. No. 15 Bloomfield – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 1 St. Michael’s vs. No. 16 Wingate – 03/07, 4:00 PM MT
No. 8 Tohatchi vs. No. 9 New Mexico Military Institute – 03/07, 3:00 PM MT
No. 5 Santa Fe Indian vs. No. 12 Sandia Prep – 03/07, 4:00 PM MT
No. 4 Navajo Prep vs. No. 13 Hot Springs – 03/07, 3:00 PM MT
No. 3 Cobre vs. No. 14 Ruidoso – 03/07, 4:00 PM MT
No. 6 Bosque vs. No. 11 Cottonwood Classical Prep – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 7 East Mountain vs. No. 10 Robertson – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 2 Tularosa vs. No. 15 West Las Vegas – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 1 Texico vs. No. 16 Clayton – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 8 Tucumcari vs. No. 9 Mora – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 5 Mesilla Valley Christian School vs. No. 12 Dulce – 03/07, 4:00 PM MT
No. 4 Santa Rosa vs. No. 13 Eunice – 03/07, 4:00 PM MT
No. 3 Mesa Vista vs. No. 14 Hozho Charter Academy – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 6 Rehoboth Christian vs. No. 11 Oak Grove Classical – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 7 Escalante vs. No. 10 Menaul – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 2 Pecos vs. No. 15 Mescalero Apache – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 1 Logan vs. No. 16 Quemado – 03/07, 4:00 PM MT
No. 8 Cliff vs. No. 9 To’hajiilee – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 5 Alamo Navajo vs. No. 12 Grady – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 4 Melrose vs. No. 13 Elida – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 3 Cimarron vs. No. 14 Pine Hill – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 6 Roy/Mosquero vs. No. 11 Mountainair – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 7 Magdalena vs. No. 10 Springer – 03/07, 3:00 PM MT
No. 2 Fort Sumner/House vs. No. 15 Gateway Christian – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
The number of confirmed measles cases in New Mexico increased to six after the state’s Department of Health confirmed Wednesday a new case inside a local jail in Las Cruces.
A federal inmate being held in the Doña Ana County Detention Center is the latest person to have tested positive for measles. The New Mexico Department of Health said others may have been exposed to the highly contagious disease from this confirmed case if they visited the U.S. District Court building in Las Cruces on Feb. 24.
State heath officials are now urging anyone who was at the courthouse that day to check their vaccination status and report any measles symptoms from now until March 17 to a health care provider.
“The New Mexico Department of Health continues to urge people to get the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination,” Dr. Chad Smelser, New Mexico’s deputy state epidemiologist, said in a statement. “Vaccine is the best tool to protect you from measles.”
Measles spreads through the air and people who contract the virus may experience symptoms such as runny nose, fever, cough, red eyes and a distinctive blotchy rash. These symptoms can develop between one and three weeks after exposure.
All of the six confirmed measles cases in New Mexico so far are federal detainees.
The first measles case was detected in the Hidalgo County Detention Center on Feb. 25, when a detainee, whose vaccination status was unknown, tested positive for the disease by the New Mexico Department of Health’s Scientific Laboratory.
Two days later, a second federal inmate in the same jail tested positive for the virus alongside two detainees in the Luna County Detention Center and another in the Doña Ana County Detention Center.
Both the Luna County and Doña Ana detention centers are local jails that also serve as holding facilities for federal immigration enforcement.
New Mexico health officials said they are the state’s first confirmed cases of this year, following a statewide outbreak in 2025 that sickened 100 people from mid-February to mid-September.
With two measles cases reported on each of the three local jails, Smelser said that the New Mexico Department of Health has sent vaccination teams to all three facilities.
State health officials are also “coordinating with all the facilities to assure all quarantine, isolation, testing and vaccination protocols are followed to minimize risk of measles spread.”
According to the NBC News measles tracker, more than 1,000 cases have been counted nationwide just in the first two months of this year. That’s nearly half the amount of cases confirmed in the United States in all of last year.
As 2026 already stands as one of the three worst years for measles infections in the country since 2000, another measles outbreak was confirmed this week in Texas inside the nation’s largest immigration detention facility.
On Wednesday, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson told NBC News that a least 14 cases of measles were confirmed inside Camp East Montana, which is located on the Fort Bliss Army base in El Paso.
The people who tested positive for measles have been “cohorted and separated from the rest of the detained population to prevent further spread,” the ICE spokesperson said.
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