Convicted state regulator avoids prison

GALLUP (KRQE) - Embattled state Public Regulation Commissioner Carol Sloan was sentenced Wednesday to five years of supervised probation following her conviction last month on felony battery charges.

Sloan had accused a woman of having an affair with her husband and was convicted of attacking the woman with a rock last July. She faced up to 12 years in prison.

Several state Democrats and Republicans have called for her to resign. As a convicted felon she can serve out the rest of her term, which ends this year, but cannot run for reelection.

After the sentencing, however, Attorney General Gary King's office announced a petition had been filed with the New Mexico Supreme Court seeking Sloan's immediate removal from office. State law and the state constitution both prohibit convicted felons from holding office, the petition argued.

Quickly removing Sloan from office would "protect the integrity" of the PRC, the petition states.