Messiah’ appeal may go to higher state court
The New Mexico Supreme Court will likely have to untangle the complex appeal for jailed cult leader Wayne Bent, the Eighth Judicial District Attorney’s Office said this week.
Taos District Attorney Donald Gallegos said his office is petitioning the supreme court to hear the case after the state court of appeals ruled earlier this month that Bent’s conviction was subject to automatic reversal since the term for the grand jury had expired before it indicted Bent.
Bent’s attorney for the appeal, John McCall, was unavailable for comment on the case. Bent, a religious leader who helmed a compound of followers north of Clayton, was convicted in 2008 of having inappropriate behavior with two teenage sisters in 2006.