Judge to sentence suspect in attack on NMSU athlete for probation violation
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A judge is set to sentence a University of New Mexico student who violated probation he received in the case of an attack on a New Mexico State University basketball player.
Eli-Sha Upshaw took a plea deal in April for carrying out a plot to set up and attack NMSU basketball player Mike Peake. It happened on the UNM campus in December 2022 when Peake was in Albuquerque for the Rio Grande Rivalry game. The incident left UNM student Brandon Travis dead and Peake injured.
In June, Judge Britt Baca-Miller granted Upshaw a conditional discharge and sentenced him to 4.5 years of probation. As a part of the discharge, Judge Baca-Miller sent him to live with his mother in Maryland. The judge also ordered him to not break the law and not “buy, sell, own, or be in possession of, at any time, firearms, ammunition or other deadly weapons” among other conditions.
In July, authorities in Maryland arrested Upshaw on several charges for an alleged fight with a man over a debit card. Prosecutors said Upshaw had a gun on him, which was in violation of his probation.
In November, a Bernalillo County Sheriff’s deputy picked him up and brought him back to New Mexico. According to a spokesperson for the Second Judicial District Attorney’s Office, prosecutors Upshaw’s charges in Maryland. The district attorney’s office stated the victim didn’t cooperate.
Court documents indicate Upshaw admitted to his probation violation during a Dec. 18 hearing. A judge will sentence him Wednesday at 10:30 a.m.
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