By Uriel J. Garcia
The Santa Fe New Mexican
SANTA FE, N.M. — An inmate at the Penitentiary of New Mexico says in a lawsuit filed earlier this week that 10 other inmates attacked him in May 2013 while two on-duty state Corrections Department officers were asleep.
Beau Musacco, 34, who is serving two life terms for gunning down two Albuquerque women on New Year’s Day in 2007, claims he suffered a collapsed lung during the assault but didn’t receive medical care, even after repeatedly asking for treatment.
Musacco was sentenced in 2009 for the slayings of 56-year-old Nancy Parker Davidson and 47-year-old Linda Gilkey in Albuquerque. The women were found inside a Ford Explorer at the top of an Interstate 40 off-ramp in Albuquerque. Gilkey was shot in the back of the head, and Davidson was shot on the left side of her jaw, according to court documents. Police found Musacco by following a trail of bloody shoe prints to a nearby hotel, where he was arrested.
The lawsuit against the Department of Corrections says its employees had known for months that Musacco was not safe in the general population. But Warden German Franco and Deputy Warden Alisha Tafoya-Lucero still released Musacco from segregation.
Musacco also claims in the lawsuit that corrections officers had harassed him for years, and that some of them had “spread inflammatory mistruths to other inmates,” hoping that Musacco would be harmed.
The lawsuit says the on-site medical staff ignored various requests by Musacco to have his injuries treated.
Alex Tomlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections, confirmed that Musacco was involved in an incident in May 2013 that required medical attention.
She said Musacco was treated for his injuries immediately and was transported to Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center for further treatment.
“The officers responded exactly as they were trained to do,” Tomlin said.
Musacco is seeking monetary damages of at least $400,000. He’s asking for lifetime health care for medical issues related to the collapsed lung, mental health care for psychological damage that resulted from the attack and a medical mattress. Musacco also is requesting to be released to a lower security prison or transferred to another state penitentiary.
Musacco is eligible for parole in 2039. He appealed the convictions, claiming his civil rights were violated because officers had searched his hotel room without a warrant. But in 2012, the state Supreme Court upheld the sentence — a mandatory 30 years in prison for each murder, 18 months for tampering with evidence and 364 days for concealing his identity.
Musacco was indicted in 2006 in the shooting of a Lubbock, Texas, man but was never arrested because police there couldn’t find him. The Lubbock County District Attorney’s Office didn’t prosecute him after his arrest in New Mexico.