ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Solomon Peña, the failed political candidate accused of plotting to shoot up the homes of local lawmakers, is now on trial. His attorneys started making his case to a jury Tuesday. 

Prosecutors and Peña’s attorneys made opening statements, and some witnesses took the stand. That list includes some lawmakers whose homes were targeted.

Bernalillo County commissioners Adriann Barboa and Steven Michael Quezada took the stand. The shooters hit Barboa’s house. Quezada’s house was not shot at, but both were set to certify the election results where Peña lost, and shared some strange interactions with Peña ahead of the shootings.

Quezada’s wife, Cherise, took the stand before him. She said Peña came to their house late one Sunday evening in November 2022 to drop off some paperwork. She thought it was unusual for a constituent to come to their private home for county matters. 

Quezada says he called Peña the day after because that paperwork was asking for a recount of Peña’s 2022 state representative race. 

Quezada was not at the election certification meeting but got a text from Peña that day saying, “No one’s going to hurt you, my boys will protect you.”

He told Peña’s attorneys the call was tense, but he did not feel threatened. He also said Peña demanded that Quezada turn over voting information before certifying the election. But Quezada said it was not the sort of information he could just turn over.

On Tuesday afternoon, an FBI specialist testified that cell phone tracking placed Peña at the scene of at least one shooting and uncovered text messages from Peña to the two men he allegedly hired to do the shootings. 

If convicted, Peña could face life in federal prison.