Gov. Susana Martinez's former campaign manager is asking a federal court to sentence him to probation rather than imprisonment for stealing the governor's email and lying about it.
Jamie Estrada pleaded guilty in June to charges of unlawful interception of electronic communication and lying to FBI agents. He provided the hijacked email to the governor's political opponents.
Estrada faces up to a year and one day in federal prison. Sentencing is scheduled for next month.
In a court document filed Wednesday, Estrada's lawyers said probation is a sufficient sentence because of Estrada's "extraordinarily good character and distinguished history of public service."
The lawyers also said if Estrada goes to prison he could no longer care for his elderly father and a brother with a life-threatening liver disease.
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