UNM student Eli-Sha Upshaw takes plea deal for involvement in Mike Peake attack

One of the men involved in an attack on former New Mexico State basketball player Mike Peake in November 2022 has pleaded guilty to two charges.

University of New Mexico student Eli-Sha Upshaw pleaded guilty to aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery in 2nd Judicial District Court in Bernalillo County on April 18. Upshaw initially pleaded not guilty in January 2023 and was released from jail to live with his mother in Maryland.

Upshaw could face up to four and a half years of incarceration when he is sentenced within the next 60 days.

According to court documents, a pretrial conference scheduled for March 21 was changed to a change of plea hearing after both sides agreed to a plea agreement.

Upshaw is the third UNM student to take a plea deal in the November 2022 attack on Peake on the UNM campus.

Mya Hill, who was 17 at the time of the deadly self-defense shooting that involved Peake, admitted to aggravated battery with great bodily harm. She will be on probation until she is 21 years old.

Jonathan Smith pleaded guilty to felony charges of conspiracy to commit aggravated battery with great bodily harm and tampering with evidence as part of a plea deal. Smith could face up to three years in prison.

Upshaw was arrested and charged with aggravated battery, conspiracy and tampering with evidence for his alleged involvement in the plot with the three other UNM students that lured Peake to the UNM campus in the early morning hours of Nov. 19, 2022.

Police believe Upshaw conspired with fellow UNM students Brandon Travis, Hill and Smith to retaliate against Peake for a fight that involved Peake and Travis at the Oct. 15, 2022 football game between New Mexico and New Mexico State at Aggie Memorial Stadium.

Hill was accused of luring Peake to the UNM campus. About 3 a.m., surveillance cameras in the parking lot of the Coronado Hall complex show Peake and Hill walking outside the dormitory. According to the complaint, Travis, Upshaw and Smith approach them from behind. Travis pointed a gun at Peake, and Upshaw hit Peake once in the right leg with a baseball bat and again in the abdomen before Peake started to run.

Travis followed Peake with a gun pointed at him while Peake took out his own gun and the two began shooting at one another. Police say Travis fired "several times" and Peake fired back. Travis, 19, was killed in the shootout and Peake was shot in the leg.

Travis died at the scene.

Peake was not charged with a crime for the shooting, which was determined to be self defense.

Jason Groves can be reached at 575-541-5459 or jgroves@lcsun-news.com. Follow him on X @jpgroves.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: UNM student Eli-Sha Upshaw pleads guilty in Mike Peake attack