'Life' inmates want out of prison

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Convicted murderer Rudolph Sena believes his debt to society is clear.

“I paid my price,” Sena said in a recent interview with News 13. “Yes I do feel that.”

The powers that be, however, feel differently.

“A life sentence means a life sentence,” said Gov. Susana Martinez, a Republican. “You’re eligible for parole. That doesn’t mean you’re granted parole.”

A New Mexico state law that took affect in 1980 declared that anyone sentenced to life in prison is eligible for parole after 30 years behind bars. Sena was the first defendant to be sentenced under that law.

The now 61-year-old was convicted after shooting up a bar in Albuquerque’s South Valley in March 1980. Three people were shot and one died.

“I don’t want to die in prison,” Sena said. “I want to be a productive citizen, you know?”

Because he was the first sentenced under the law, Sena also was the first convicted murderer to come up for parole, which occurred in 2010. The parole board denied his request.

After spending another two years at the privately run prison in Santa Rosa, Sena appeared before the parole board a second time in May. The answer, however, was the same: no.

Sena said he thinks he met the criteria to get out and that parole board members had already made up their minds beforehand.

“I don’t think I was given a fair chance,” he said.

Parole Board Chairwoman Sandra Dietz said Sena was denied parole for a variety of reasons, including the nature and seriousness of the offense that landed him in prison.

She said she believes that someone sentenced to life in prison should get exactly that.

“There’s nothing in the statute that says the parole board has to release on parole,” she said. “They say we have to consider, and we do consider.”

Former Parole Board member Mary Thompson recently accused Dietz of making sure inmates serving life sentences are denied parole. Efforts to contact Thompson were not successful.

Dietz, however, does not deny having strong opinions, but said state law sets a high standard for granting parole to someone convicted of life in prison. And that goes especially for those convicted of first-degree murder, which Dietz said she considers some of the most dangerous in the state prison system.

“You have some people within this group that really basically side-stepped the death penalty,” Dietz said.

Gov. Martinez, who ousted Thompson from the parole board after her comments about Dietz, shares the same philosophy.

“You are sentenced to life, and there has to be good reason for you to be released from prison from a life sentence,” Martinez said. “If you have a belief that 30 years is life, and you’re automatically eligible to be released from prison, then that is not a shared philosophy of this administration.”

Since 2010, 16 convicted murderers have served 30 years in prison. Of those, only Donald Whittington, 58, was granted parole.

“It was the decision of board members who felt that in the interview he sounded like he was going to be okay,” Dietz said. “I did not agree to that.”

Whittington was allowed to stay with his sister in Texas. But it didn’t take long before he began getting into fights with family members and threatening others at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. He was soon arrested and shipped back to prison in New Mexico.

“He didn’t do very well on the outside and we really were very lucky that there was no one injured,” Dietz said.

As for Sena, he said he doesn’t remember committing the murder he was convicted of and, to this day, still doubts he’s actually guilty. However, he said he’s sorry.

“The crime that I was charged with – I’m real remorseful for it, you know,” he said. “I wish that it would never have happened. After going on 33 years, I feel in my heart that whatever happened will never happen again, never and that’s guaranteed.”

After the Legislature abolished the death penalty in 2009, the state came up with a new type of life-in-prison-sentence: life with the possibility of parole.