By C1 Staff
ALBUQURQUE, N.M. — What amounts to a typo almost let a violent sex offender walk away from a life sentence.
KOB reports that state lawmaker Jacob Candelaria is currently fighting to change the wording that almost allowed convicted sex offender Anthony Samora off when he raped a teenager for the second time.
In simplest terms, when legislature was reworded in 2007, it left out that both 1st degree rapes and second degree felony crimes are both punishable with a life sentence.
“And so now the sentencing statue that’s on the books references sections that don’t exist and don’t apply anymore,” Candelaria said.
“It really is almost a typo that was exploited in this case to try and absolve somebody of the responsibility of their actions.”
New Mexico’s Supreme Court said on Monday that a lower court can make the final decision on the Samora case, but Candelaria says he will introduce legislation the next session to fix the language.
The district attorney responsible for prosecuting Samora supplied this statement:
“We have received the court’s ruling and plan to work with the legislature to avoid any future confusion on the issue.
We strongly feel there should be no confusion as to how much time violent offenders should spend behind bars.”