Ex-campaign manager who stole Gov. Susana Martinez's email sentenced to 9 months in prison

A federal judge has sentenced a former campaign manager for Gov. Susana Martinez to nine months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for stealing the governor's email and lying about it.

U.S. District Judge William P. Johnson sentenced Jamie Estrada on Wednesday. He had pleaded guilty in June to charges of unlawful interception of electronic communication and lying to FBI agents.

Estrada's family cried when the sentence was read.

Prosecutors say Estrada provided the hijacked email to the governor's political opponents.

Messages sent by Martinez, her aides and supporters never went to intended recipients on 2010 gubernatorial campaign email accounts. Instead they were directed to a computer account controlled by Estrada.

The sentencing comes as Martinez, a Republican, is running for re-election against Democratic challenger and New Mexico Attorney General Gary King.