Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
On this date ...
1974: Clovis-Portales District Attorney Fred Hensley had announced he would eliminate plea bargains when seeking punishment for “drug pushers.” Hensley said his office would seek penitentiary time for anyone convicted of selling drugs, eliminating the option of probation.
Hensley said the number of trials would increase, at greater expense to taxpayers, but it is “the only alternative to combat the tremendous increase in drug pushing.”
Portales News-Tribune Editor Gordon Greaves was critical of the decision in a published editorial.
“Our system of justice is predicated upon every criminal charge being judged on its own merits,” he wrote in opposing the blanket approach.
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