Violent felon Rafael Orozco, 26, has been sentenced to spend the next 14 years in prison after violating the terms of his probation, but not before issuing a thinly veiled threat to Court officials and prosecutors that he will only become “worse” while in custody and will “see you again” when he is eventually released.
Orozco absconded from court-mandated drug treatment at the Delancy Street program outside of Espanola and was at large for six months before he was arrested by Taos County Sheriff’s Office in April. Orozco had squandered his opportunity to better himself in rehabilitation in lieu of prison time for his guilty plea to aggravated battery, battery on a health care worker and aggravated battery on a peace officer.
At the probation revocation sentencing hearing Monday, September 14, Eighth Judicial District Court Judge Jeffrey Shannon gave Orozco the maximum prison sentence of 14 years. Orozco’s attorney, Arthur Bustos, argued that Orozco should only serve the statutory minimum of four years in light of trauma he had endured as a child and needs help.
However, Deputy District Attorney Cosme Ripol replied, “I am not here to help him. I am here to punish him.”
Ripol said Orozco earned, deserved and needed a sentence in the Department of Corrections in order to protect the people of New Mexico and the citizens of Taos County.
“The Court agreed with us, and he got the maximum sentence available to him,” Ripol said.
The Office of the Eighth Judicial District Attorney is grateful, as always, for the hard work of law enforcement and court staff in Northern New Mexico for helping to keep violent felons like Rafael Orozco off the streets and imposing appropriate sentences to people who chose to threaten public safety rather than contribute positively to our community.
