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Thread: Joel Lee Compton - New Mexico

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    Joel Lee Compton - New Mexico

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    Hearing set for man convicted of killing officer

    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - A man convicted of killing an Albuquerque police officer nearly 30 years ago will go before the State Parole Board in early March.

    Joel Lee Compton was convicted of fatally shooting 35-year-old Officer Gerald Cline in February 1983 at a motel and was sentenced to die by lethal injection, but his punishment was commuted to a life sentence by then-Gov. Toney Anaya during his last month in office.

    The punishments for Compton and four other death-row inmates were commuted to life sentences by Anaya in November 1986.

    The Albuquerque Journal reports that the Corrections Department spokesman said Compton will deny any involvement in the crime and claim he has no recollection of killing the officer when he goes before the Parole Board for the first time on March 6.

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    Man convicted of killing cop gets parole hearing

    A former death row inmate convicted of killing an Albuquerque police officer but had his death sentence commuted to life in prison is scheduled Wednesday to go before the New Mexico Parole Board.

    Joel Lee Compton, 59, who was convicted for the 1983 death of Gerald Cline, is set to attend a parole hearing and could walk away a free man despite having once faced the death penalty. That's because Compton was one of five death-row inmates who had a death sentence commuted in 1986 by then-New Mexico Gov. Toney Anaya. Right before Compton's sentence was commuted, state lawmakers passed a law that required at least 30 years in prison for all those convicted of first-degree murder who could then petition for parole every two years after serving the minimum.

    According to authorities, Compton shot and killed Cline, 35, with a high-caliber rifle at Tewa Motor Lodge in Albuquerque. The 13-year veteran of the Albuquerque Police Department had responded to a call of a suspicious man with a gun when he was shot in the heart at close range, police said.

    Compton was convicted in September 1983 and sentenced to die by lethal injection.

    But three years later, outgoing Anaya, a vocal opponent of the death penalty, commuted Compton sentence. "At the time I commuted his sentence, I never expected him to walk the streets as a free man," Anaya said in an interview with The Associated Press.

    Anaya said he doesn't regret his decision and felt that he has since been "vindicated" since some states, including New Mexico, have abolished the death penalty. "We need to punish individuals but do it in a way that's compatible with our humanity," he said.

    Sherry Stephens, executive director of the New Mexico Parole Board, said Compton will present his case to the 15-member board from Hobbs, N.M., via video conference, but the hearing will not be open to the public.

    After the hearing, board members will make a decision that could come as early as Friday but won't be made public until Compton has read the decision and signed a related document, she said.

    Yolanda Cline, the wife of Gerald Cline, did not immediately return a phone message from the Associated Press.

    However, the family recently told the Albuquerque Journal that the upcoming hearing has brought back memories of the tragedy and the commuted sentence.

    "Thirty years sounds like a long time," she said. "But 30 years evaporates."

    http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/art...#ixzz2Mi1B8ybO
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    New Mexico Cop-Killer Expresses No Regret for Slaying

    The convicted cop killer who came up for his first parole board hearing Wednesday told the board he has but one regret in the chain of events that led to his incarceration, according to the officer's widow.

    But that single bit of remorse comes not from shooting then-Albuquerque police officer Gerald Cline once through the heart with a high-caliber rifle at a Central Avenue motel in February 1983. Rather, Joel Lee Compton, 59, said he regrets only getting in a confrontation with other hotel guests, prompting Cline to arrive at the scene in response to a "suspicious person with a gun."

    Cline's widow, Yolanda Cline, was at the hearing in Santa Fe speaking alongside two family members against Compton's release. She said Compton also told the board that he hadn't taken substance abuse or anger management classes while in prison, nor did he outline a plan of what his life would be should he be released from prison.

    Compton had a bloodalcohol level of 0.20 when he shot Cline, according to news reports at the time.

    The New Mexico Parole Board won't make its ruling public until Compton sees the board's verdict and signs off on it from prison in Lea County. A parole board spokeswoman said the ruling could be released as early as Friday.

    "The man stood a fair chance," Cline told the Journal on Wednesday. "But his demeanor throughout the whole hearing -- he didn't even want to be there at the end."

    Cline said Compton blamed his defense attorney at the time, Albert "Pat" Murdoch, for what he called an unfair trial, and denied shooting the officer.

    Compton also became frustrated about 45 minutes into the hearing and chose to leave early, Cline said.

    "He decided that he wasn't getting a fair hearing," Cline said.

    The board got one letter asking that Compton be released, Cline said, but she doesn't know who wrote it. The board also got around 500 letters from around the country opposing Compton's release, and Cline said she's grateful to all who joined the effort.

    Compton was initially sentenced to death in September 1983, but then-New Mexico Gov. Toney Anaya commuted the sentences of all the convicted criminals on the death row at the time. That meant that Compton had to serve a minimum of 30 years in prison before becoming parole eligible.

    Cline said she and her family members stressed to the board the nature of Compton's crime and pointed out that he would have been put to death had Anaya not commuted the sentences.

    http://www.officer.com/news/10890316...et-for-slaying
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    NM convicted officer killer denied parole

    A former death row inmate convicted of killing an Albuquerque police officer has been denied parole.

    The New Mexico Parole board said Friday that it was not in the "best interest of society" that 59-year-old Joel Lee Compton be granted parole from prison.

    Compton was convicted for the 1983 death of Cline and originally sentenced to death. Gov. Toney Anaya later commuted his death sentence to life in prison out of his opposition to death penalty.

    The board said there was a substantial risk that Compton would not follow the conditions of parole.

    The family of Cline said the hearing this week brought back memories of the tragedy and the commuted sentence.

    Compton is eligible for parole again in two years.

    http://www.ruidosonews.com/ci_227484...-denied-parole
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    Convicted cop-killer dies in prison

    By Matthew Reisen
    Albuquerque Journal

    Convicted cop killer Joel Lee Compton died in a Los Lunas prison Thursday morning, decades after a New Mexico governor swapped his death penalty with life imprisonment for gunning down a veteran police officer outside an Albuquerque motel.

    Compton’s life came to an end inside the Central New Mexico Correctional Facility at the age of 65, said 2nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office spokesman Michael Patrick. He did not know the cause of death.

    Compton was serving a life sentence for shooting 35-year-old Albuquerque Police Department officer Gerald Cline with a high-caliber rifle outside a Central Avenue motel in 1983. Originally handed the death penalty, Compton’s sentence was commuted in 1986 by then-Gov. Toney Anaya.

    Cline’s widow, Yolanda, said she got the call about Compton’s death around 9:30 a.m. Thursday.

    “I was kind of surprised. At first it doesn’t seem possible, and then you go into a little bit of shock,” she said. “I didn’t ask details.”

    Cline said the family had been hearing gossip that Compton was sick with cancer and had been moved to the Los Lunas prison for health reasons.

    She said the family was preparing for an upcoming parole hearing in March, one of many such hearings that had come up and been denied over the past several years.

    “I’m just to the point – I was tired of the hearings. He has stolen more hours from me than anybody,” Cline said. “I didn’t want to do it again.”

    It was just before midnight on Feb. 24, 1983, when Gerald Cline responded to a suspicious person with a gun outside the Tewa Motor Lodge along Central, near San Mateo. The 11-year veteran pulled his cruiser into an alley behind the motel and was walking toward one of the rooms when 29-year-old Compton opened fire with a 30-30 rifle, killing the officer instantly with a shot through the heart. Compton was arrested across the street moments later. At the time, police believed the call went out after Compton began arguing with another man at the hotel about a young prostitute he had been offered.

    Compton, originally from Texas, had already racked up various drug-related offenses in Albuquerque and a police sergeant described him as a “bona-fide nut.”

    A funeral procession of motorcycle officers spanned blocks to the service for Cline. More than 1,500 mourners attended the funeral.

    In the wake of his death, the North Valley police substation, near Second and Montaño, was named after the slain officer, as was the Jerry Cline Recreation and Tennis Center.

    Throughout the trials and parole hearings that stretched over decades, Yolanda Cline said Compton continuously denied shooting Gerald and showed no remorse for her husband’s death, leaving her a widow with two young daughters and a 2-month-old son. Cline called her husband an “ordinary man,” but a good one who adored his children and was well liked within the community he served.

    “Grief goes in stages. … There were times over the last 30 years, I could have easily dismembered him with a dull butter knife, because I was still that angry,” Cline said. “I’m not angry, and I’m not ready to forgive him. And that’s something I still have to do. I have a deep belief in God, and I believe God requires that of me.”

    https://www.abqjournal.com/1280900/c...in-prison.html
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