Second life term for man who shot Hatch officer
Jesse Denver Hanes sentenced for firearms, carjacking
A man already serving life for the murder of a Hatch police officer was sentenced Thursday to another life term without the possibility of parole on federal firearms and carjacking charges.
Jesse Denver Hanes, 40, was a fugitive from Ohio when he shot and killed officer Jose Chavez, a married father of two, during a traffic stop in Hatch on Aug. 12, 2016. Hanes then led police on a chase south before Hanes attempted to carjack a couple and then stole a car after shooting and injuring a man at the Fort Seldon rest area in Radium Springs.
He was arrested after crashing the stolen car into a woodpile behind a house off N.M. 185, according to police.
At the time of the shooting, Hanes and one of his passengers, James Nelson, had been on a cross-country crime spree that was funded by bank robberies and selling methamphetamine, according to police. Nelson and Hanes were both wanted in Ohio in connection with the same murder. Nelson was not charged in connection to Chavez’s death.
Hanes’ attorneys wrote in a sentencing memorandum that if convicted in the Ohio murder case, Hanes will likely be sentenced to death.
“Today, the law enforcement community made good on its pledge to hold Jesse Denver Hanes fully accountable for his day-long violent crime spree,” U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico John Anderson said in a prepared statement.
Last May, Hanes pleaded guilty to five federal charges that included carjacking, attempted carjacking and gun-related crimes. He was previously sentenced in September 2017 to life without parole in state district court in Doña Ana County after pleading guilty to first-degree murder and other crimes.
Hanes’ attorneys also said in the sentencing memo that Hanes has spent most of his life in prison, beginning when he was sentenced to adult prison in Ohio. His attorneys only asked that U.S. District Judge Robert Brack recommend that the Bureau of Prisons house Hanes in a prison near Ohio.
“Jesse’s penchant for violence and thievery blossomed in the 24 years that he lived in jails and prisons,” Steven Almanza, Hanes’ attorney, said.