Man sentenced to 22 years for 2020 murder in Las Cruces

EL PASO, Texas ( KTSM ) — A man, who was a teenager at the time of a 2020 murder, has been sentenced to serve more than 22 years in prison for the crime.

On Friday, June 28, Jeremiah Peña-Nieto, 21, was sentenced to 22 years and 6 months in prison, according to a news release sent out by the Las Cruces District Attorney’s Office.

Peña-Nieto, who was 17 at the time of the shooting, was found guilty by a Las Cruces jury for the killing of Jacob Daniel Becerra, an 18-year-old.  In May 2022, Peña Nieto was put on trial for the first time, ending in a mistrial.

In April 2024, at the second trial, a Las Cruces jury found Peña-Nieto guilty of one count of second-degree murder, two counts of tampering with evidence, and one count of conspiracy to commit tampering with evidence. Peña-Nieto has been awaiting sentencing at the Doña Ana County Detention Center.

On Aug. 6, 2020, Las Cruces Police were dispatched about a car that crashed into a light pole on Farney Lane near West Park Drive.

Inside the vehicle, they found Becerra in the driver’s seat, shot several times on the right side of his face and body.  Witnesses and video footage that were discovered by the Las Cruces Police repeatedly indicated a male dressed in black with white shoes running from the scene.

After an “intensive investigation” of video and social media footage, interviews with witnesses and friends of the victim, Las Cruces Police identified and arrested Pena-Nieto as the passenger who shot and killed Becerra, the DA’s Office said.

The judge at the sentencing noted that at the time of Peña-Nieto’s arrest, he was placed into juvenile programs, which he has since “aged” out of, the DA’s Office said.

The judge also noted that Peña-Nieto had social media postings showing him flashing guns and showing “awareness of his intentions and actions,” the DA’s Office said.

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