Law Designed to Prevent the Improper Early Release of Dangerous Criminals

Albuquerque, NM — Mark Ronchetti announced today that he will pursue “Monique’s Law” to protect the public from the early release of dangerous criminals. The law is named after Monique Gonzales who was murdered on June 26, 2021 by career criminal Chris Beltran who was released from prison early twice by Governor Lujan Grisham and her administration. 

“Monique’s Law will be a huge step forward in preventing another tragedy like this from happening to another innocent victim,” said Mark Ronchetti, adding, “The Lujan Grisham administration failed Monique at every turn and is continuing to lie and cover it up to this very day.”  

Governor Lujan Grisham has a clear goal of reducing the prison population and that is driving her policies and appointments. Since she has been governor, New Mexico’s prison population has been reduced by 26%, despite skyrocketing crime. This is not by accident. She has let criminals out of prison by commuting prison sentences and appointing a “when in doubt, let ‘em out” parole board.  

Monique’s Law has three main requirements related to the early release of inmates: mandating the review of recent prison phone calls, requiring the auditing and posting of good time calculations prior to an inmate being released, and webcasting parole board hearings. 

Mandating Review of Recent Prison Phone Calls Prior to Release of Criminals

Monique’s Law will require the Corrections Department to utilize technology and staff to review recent prison phone calls prior to releasing inmates and attest to the parole board that such a review has taken place. Such an attestation shall be required prior to the release of any inmate. 

Technology now makes it possible to use artificial intelligence to aid staff in evaluating phone calls and identify potentially dangerous situations. The use of this technology should be fully utilized and the Lujan Grisham administration clearly failed in this regard. While the governor has increased overall government spending by 40% and increased her own office budget by 60%, she’s only increased the corrections budget by 9%. Public safety is simply not her priority. 

In the days and weeks prior to his release, Chris Beltran directly threatened Monique multiple times during prison calls. He threatened to beat her, threatened to shoot her and any man she was living with, and bragged about finding a gun. He even talked about using the Governor’s stimulus check – which she gave to inmates – to pay for a “really nice” gun.  

Monique attempted to hide from Beltran, moving into an apartment owned by her grandfather and refusing to disclose the location to Beltran. On recorded prison phone calls, Beltran promised that he’d find out where she lived and kick down the door himself.  No action was taken by the Lujan Grisham Administration. 

Even though he spoke openly about buying guns, beating Monique, selling drugs, shooting Monique and her ex-boyfriends, and yelled at her on the phone, the Lujan Grisham administration failed to monitor, or utilize technology to detect any of the threats. Technology used in prisons all over the country exists that can easily flag these calls.  The Lujan Grisham administration either failed to utilize this technology, or her political appointees failed to act on it.  

Unfortunately, the Lujan Grisham administration admits they were unaware of the threats on the recorded phone calls from prison. Four days after his early release, Beltran hunted Monique down, banged on her windows and doors, and then shot her in the face, killing her.  

Requiring Transparent Auditing and Posting of Good Time Calculations Prior to Early Release

Under Monique’s Law, Mark Ronchetti will require the Corrections Department to audit and post online all good time calculations at least 30 days prior to the release of any inmate. This will give the public and victims a chance to challenge those calculations before the parole board.  It is crystal clear that the Lujan Grisham administration improperly awarded good time to Beltran. As the District Attorney who prosecuted him stated, “The Lujan Grisham administration clearly miscalculated when it came to awarding Beltran good time in order to release him early.”

There is no debate that Beltran was released from prison over 5 months early on his parole revocation by the Lujan Grisham administration. A judge sentenced him to one year of parole and the governor’s administration admits his parole sentence should have ended on November 21, 2021 according to their own documents. Instead, the Lujan Grisham administration released him early on June 22, 2021. To release him early, the Lujan Grisham administration admits they awarded Beltran 4 months and 29 days of good time – a figure that is completely at odds with state law and common sense. 

Had he not been released early, Monique would have had time to relocate and otherwise create a safety plan to protect herself.  Not only did the Lujan Grisham administration release him early, they have hidden from the public the documents indicating how they calculated his good time. It’s obvious why.

The Many Ways Lujan Grisham Administration Improperly Awarded Good Time to Release Beltran Early

The Lujan Grisham administration is so committed to emptying our prisons that they awarded excessive good time to Beltran in order to release him from prison early again. 

Chris Beltran was released from prison early under the governor’s COVID order on September 28, 2020 and put on a year of parole, per the judge’s sentence. Beltran immediately absconded from parole on October 6, 2020 and was tracked down and arrested on October 26, 2020 and returned to prison in November. 

Beltran was then required to serve his year of parole in prison and only eligible for limited good time. Since he absconded, Beltran was only eligible to receive up to 4 days of good time for every 30 days served per state law. This means he should only have been given 32 days of good time in 8 months. Instead, he was given nearly 5 times that amount — 4 months and 29 days of good time. 

Under state law, Beltran was also ineligible to receive good time while in segregation. The Lujan Grisham administration has admitted Beltran was in disciplinary segregation but has refused to disclose the duration. In recorded prison phone calls, Beltran stated he was in segregation for 3 months.

Finally, Beltran should not have received any “good time” while he was making threatening phone calls and conspiring to commit future crimes. Yet, that’s exactly what the Lujan Grisham administration awarded. 

Monique’s Law will provide real accountability and stop these improper good time calculations by requiring them to be audited and made public on the internet 30 days prior to any parole board decision. 

Webcasting All Parole Board Hearings

Under Monique’s Law, all parole board hearings will be webcast. Mark Ronchetti says the public has a right to know the decisions of her parole board. Governor Lujan Grisham has used her handpicked parole board to pursue her agenda of emptying out our prisons. And they’ve done so without any oversight from the press. Requiring these meetings to be webcast will allow the public an opportunity to see for themselves how these decisions are being made, and make their voices heard, should they choose to do so.

Original source can be found here.