ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - A district attorney has decided against prosecuting a Bernalillo County sheriff’s deputy in the 2017 fatal shootings of two men who were in a stolen truck following a pursuit.
The Albuquerque Journal reports that District Attorney Clint Wellborn of the 7th Judicial District said prosecutors couldn’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Deputy Joshua Mora’s shootings of 23-year-old Isaac Padilla and 25-year-old Martin Jim weren’t justified.
Sheriff Manuel Gonzales praised the decision, saying Wellborn “made the right legal and ethical decision.”
Gonzales has said Mora fired because Padilla revved the truck’s engine and Mora believed Padilla was going to run over his sergeant.
An attorney for the families of the dead men and two passengers who weren’t hit, Sam Bregman, expressed disappointment and said there were grounds for prosecution.
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