EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — Sentencing hearings for two individuals involved in the attack on former New Mexico State men’s basketball player Mike Peake in November 2022 in Albuquerque were held on Tuesday.
Jonathan Smith and Eli-Sha Upshaw appeared in separate Albuquerque courtrooms to receive their sentences.
Both were facing prison time, but ultimately neither of them will serve time in jail.
Upshaw was sentenced to 4 1/2 years of supervised probation by the 2nd Judicial District Judge Britt Baca-Miller. The state asked for three years of jail time.
Smith was sentenced to three years of supervised probation by 2nd Judicial District Judge Courtney Weaks. The state says Smith was cooperative with the investigation.
Smith took a plea deal in January and pled guilty to felony charges of conspiracy to commit aggravated battery with great bodily harm and tampering with evidence.
Upshaw took a plea deal in April and pled guilty to felony charges of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery.
Upshaw and Smith were two of four UNM students who conspired to assault Peake early on the morning of Nov. 19, 2022, on the campus of the University of New Mexico when the team was in Albuquerque for a game against New Mexico.
The incident then turned into a deadly shooting investigation.
The deadly shooting left Peake injured and 19-year-old University of New Mexico student Brandon Travis dead.
According to police, Travis and fellow UNM students Jonathan Smith and Upshaw wanted revenge against Peake for a fight at the Oct. 15, 2022, football game between UNM and NMSU in Las Cruces.
The three men lured Peake to UNM’s campus with the help of 17-year-old female UNM student Mya Hill in the early morning hours of Nov. 19 – the same day NMSU and UNM were supposed to play the Battle of I-25 rivalry game at The Pit.
Hill took a plea deal of her own in August of 2023.
Upshaw could be seen on surveillance footage running up behind Peake and hitting him with a baseball bat before the shooting began.
Police and the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s office ruled that Peake acted in self-defense. Neither Peake, nor anyone else affiliated with New Mexico State University, were charged with a crime related to the incident.
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