ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling will not result in an early prison release for former Rio Arriba County sheriff Tommy Rodella, a judge said.
U.S. District Judge James Browning declined an early release request by Rodella based on a change in a federal firearms law in June, Santa Fe New Mexican reported Friday.
The Supreme Court voted 5-4 on an unrelated robbery case out of Texas that struck down a firearms statute that added seven years to Rodella’s prison sentence.
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The part of the law that changed did not apply, Browning said.
Rodella has five years left of a 10-year sentence stemming from a road-rage incident where Rodella was convicted of unreasonable use of force, unlawful arrest and using a firearm during a crime of violence, authorities said.
Rodella appealed.
The U.S. Court of Appeals upheld his conviction in November 2015 and the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal a year later.
Rodella filed a new motion in March 2019 asking a court to overturn his conviction.
His attorney Susan J. Clouthier made a request in November to include the Supreme Court decision in the ruling.
Rodella is serving time at a federal prison in Seagoville, Texas. He did not attend the hearing, but has an option to appeal.
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