Mark Romero

AG News:

BERNALILLO – Attorney General Hector Balderas announced Thursday that Mark Romero, who brutally murdered Francisco Landovazo in July 2011, will remain in prison after the New Mexico Supreme Court agreed with the Office of the Attorney General’s Criminal Appeals Division.

Using a gun, Romero and another man forced him into the trunk of a car, drove him to El Llanito, beat him with a baseball bat, hogtied him and choked him until he died.

“We are working to keep New Mexico’s most violent, dangerous criminals out of our communities and behind bars,” Attorney General Hector Balderas said. “My condolences are with the family of the victim and the entire community of Bernalillo, but I hope they can take some solace in the fact that Mark Romero will remain in prison for his heinous crimes.”

The 13^th Judicial District Attorney’s Office successfully prosecuted Romero, but he later appealed his conviction claiming there was insufficient evidence to convict him and that the trial court abused its discretion during the examination of a witness. The Office of the Attorney General argued against the defendant’s appeal and the Supreme Court affirmed his convictions.