Albuquerque mother upset over release of man involved in son’s murder

By Faith Egbuonu

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    ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (KOAT) — Dominic Conyers, 26, is set to be released from prison early after serving half of his sentence. In 2017, Conyers was sentenced to 12 years in prison in connection to 17-year-old Jaydon Chavez-Silver’s death.

According to the New Mexico Department of Corrections, Conyers is eligible for early release due to his participation in prison programs, that helped toward a reduced sentence. Conyers was initially set to serve 18 years in prison, but a New Mexico judge reduced it to 12 years, in which he has now served six years.

“It was complete shock and disbelief. I thought that something had to be wrong. I said, ‘There is no way he’s getting released on Jaydon’s birthday and still has six more years. What happened?” Jaydon’s mother, Nicole Chavez, said.

According to Chavez, she was told Conyers’ release date, would be on Jaydon’s birthday, Oct. 20, 2023. However, the New Mexico Department of Corrections stated there was a clerical error and Conyer’s release date is set for Oct. 30, 2023.

Conyers is one of three men involved in the shooting death of Chavez-Silver. According to police, Chavez-Silver was shot and killed during a drive-by shooting at a house party in northeast Albuquerque on June 26, 2015.

“The Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office called to let me know that he was getting out, because the VINE system is currently down. What us victims have to rely on in the state of New Mexico, any time the offender gets moved from an institution to another institution or is getting released, we get an automatic text notification that the offender is being moved,” Chavez said.

“Well, apparently, that system’s getting upgraded. Bernalillo County District Attorney’s office had to make the call because the VINE system is down. So, the Department of Corrections is giving all of those notifications to district attorneys across the state to call the families and notify them of any kind of movement right now,” Chavez said.

“I continue to be a voice and try to fight, but I feel like at the same time, I let them down, because what is done?” Chavez said.

“We are not holding criminals accountable. We are forgetting the lives that have been taken and these violent repeat offenders are getting out and re-offending. This upcoming session’s coming,” Chavez said. “As we’ve seen, New Mexico and Albuquerque especially are seeing a lot of violent repeat offenders. While this will be my ninth legislative session here saying the same thing and it’s only gotten worse, I think they really need to look at violent repeat offenders and they need to look at penalties.”

“Dominic Conyers’ release date has always been October 30th. Unfortunately, there was a clerical error in which the date of October 20th went out as a projected release date. For that, NMCD sincerely apologizes. It’s also a reminder of why we have checks and balances, including a certified release date process.

The District Attorney’s office is responsible for alerting families of parole board hearings and release dates. NMCD was able to facilitate a meeting with the parole board chair, which has taken place. We are now working to schedule a meeting for her with the Probation and Parole office. Our department has a Victim Services Program, and we are here to help Ms. Chavez and her family during this difficult process.

Although the VINE system was and is down, it has had no impact on the notifications to Ms. Chavez from NMCD. The Administrative Office of District Attorneys (AODA) received the Pre-Release Date (PRD) notice on September 12th, which had the incorrect date of October 20th. We sent an amended PRD notice on September 15th, with the correct date of October 30th. Per statute, it is the responsibility of the District Attorney’s Office to provide notification of parole board hearings and inmate releases. The parole board sends out the dockets to all statewide DA victim advocates, including those at the Bernalillo District Attorney’s Office. The issue with our VINE system has had no impact on our notification process. We are working with the AODA and continuing to send our notifications to them.” – Brittany Roembach, NMCD Public Information Officer

“We are still trying to determine when the VINE system went down. It still currently is down. The District Attorney personally spoke with Ms. Chavez and shares her concerns about the notification process.” – Nancy Laflin, Communication Director

Conyers pleaded guilty to two charges, including conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and shooting at an occupied dwelling.

“My son was worth so much more than six years behind bars. I have to go visit him at a cemetery. And to me, that’s not justice and that is not fair,” Chavez said.

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