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Man pleads no contest in shooting

Man pleads no contest in shooting

LOVINGTON — Hobbsan Jamar Evans pleaded no contest at the Lea County Courthouse on Monday morning to attempted murder in the 2016 shooting of Tywon Basquez and was sentenced to serve five years of a 14-year sentence.

Evans, 35, appeared in District Judge William Shoobridge’s courtroom for a change of plea hearing Monday after being charged with attempted murder, a second-degree felony; and possession of a firearm by a felon, a fourth-degree felony, in early 2016. Hobbs police arrested Evans in March 2016 after investigating the Feb. 17, 2016, shooting of then 36-year-old Basquez of Hobbs. The incident occurred in the 200 block of West Skelly, leaving Basquez severely injured.

At Monday’s hearing, Evans pleaded no contest to the attempted murder charge and admitted to having two prior felony convictions of unlawful taking of a motor vehicle and burglary. The firearm possession charge was dismissed as part of the plea agreement. Shoobridge sentenced Evans to nine years with a one-year firearm enhancement and an additional four years with a habitual offender enhancement for a total of 14 years. Nine years of it were suspended.

“You will serve five years with the balance of time suspended,” Shoobridge told Evans. “You’ll have five years of supervised probation. You will be committed to the Department of Corrections. While in the Department of Corrections, you will participate in a substance abuse counseling and/or treatment through the RDAP (Residential Drug Abuse Program) program as recommended. Any anger management that has (been) recommended. You will make restitution.”

Evans received 900 days of credit for pre-sentence confinement, which is roughly 2 1/2 years. Shoobridge imposed mandatory fees and said Evans will be subject to the standard conditions during his five years of supervised probation. Evans will also be required to participate in any substance abuse or anger management classes or treatment recommended by his probation officer.

“The cost of supervised probation will be waived during the period of time that you make restitution and the court will expect that you make good faith effort on restitution,” Shoo-bridge said. “… The sentence will continue until completed as far as if there are any violations of the law or anything after you have completed supervised probation. You still have the exposure of 14 years.”

Evans did not offer any comments on his own behalf at the hearing.

His defense attorney, Gary Mitchell of Ruidoso, and Fifth Judicial District Attorney Dianna Luce spoke about Monday’s events outside of Shoobridge’s courtroom.

“It’s a fair resolution of the case. … all the various issues that were confronted, it took a while to get it done,” Mitchell said. “But at the end of the day, between the judge, the district attorney, and the defense counsel, we arrived at a solution that appears to work well for everybody from the victim to the defendant to all the counsel and the court. And it beats going to trial and everybody gambling one way or the other. Because this was experienced lawyers figuring out what the facts really indicated.”

Luce also called it a “fair resolution.”

“This is really in Tywon Basquez’s best interest,” Luce continued. “He is bedridden, has been since he was shot. The only way he could’ve been brought to court was on a hospital gurney and so it’s just a tragedy all the way around. But obviously, resolving this case where it’s final, no appeal — was definitely in the victim’s best interest.”

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