Stephen D Aarons, Attorney at Law | Aarons Law PC | New Mexico Criminal Defense Attorney

Author: roadrunner

  • Judge will not reconsider sentence for woman who killed 2 in DWI crash

    SANDOVAL CO., N.M.- Judge Louis McDonald denied a motion by the district attorney’s office to reconsider the three-year sentence for Christie Noriega.

    She received the sentence after the judge expressed concerns about whether the department of corrections could treat Noriega’s liver disease.

    Noriega’s attorney said the back-and-forth about the sentencing has made for a tough week for his client. “She is very relieved that the court stuck with its original decision. She accepts responsibility for what happened and will now begin her prison term,” said attorney Steve Aarons.

    Noriega pleaded guilty to two counts of homicide by vehicle and aggravated DWI.

    Michael Chambellan and Lonnie Escovedo were killed in the crash on I-25 near Algodones.

    Noriega faced up to 30 years in prison for the crimes.

     

    by Hoshua Panas, copyright 2019 by KOB. Reprinted with Permission

  • GOP lawmakers want judge to resign for suspended sentence

    by ELISE KAPLAN / JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

    Republican legislators from Rio Rancho are calling for a judge to resign after he sentenced a drunken driver who killed two people to three years in prison.

    Christie Noriega, 32, pleaded guilty in September to two counts of vehicular homicide and aggravated driving while intoxicated in the deaths of Lonny Escovedo, 28, and Michael Chambellan, 21. She was facing up to 30 years in prison.

    In early March, she was heading southbound on Interstate 25 near Algodones when she crashed into the two men, who were changing a flat tire on Escovedo’s car. The men died at the scene.

    Noriega’s 2-year-old son was in her car but was not injured.

    On Friday, 13th Judicial District Judge Louis McDonald sentenced her to 30 years in prison, but suspended all but three years. Following the three years, Noriega will be on supervised probation for five years and could be ordered to serve her full sentence if she violates probation.

    “This goes beyond unacceptable, is a dereliction of duty and shows a complete lack of judgment,” Rep. Jason Harper, R-Rio Rancho, said in a news release Monday. “It’s decisions like this one that erode confidence in the criminal justice system in New Mexico. Judge McDonald should resign.”

    Rep. Tim Lewis, R-Rio Rancho, and Sen. Craig Brandt, R-Rio Rancho, are joining Harper in the calls for McDonald’s resignation.

    The judge was not immediately available for comment late Monday, and a court administrator said he would be able to provide more information about the sentencing today.

    Noriega’s defense attorney, Steve Aarons, said he thought the call for McDonald’s resignation was “horrible.”

    “I can say that it’s unfortunate that people are judging a very seasoned district court judge without having all of the facts that he had,” Aarons said.

    He said there were many factors that led to Judge McDonald sentencing his client to three years, including recommendations from the New Mexico Corrections Department and Noriega’s lack of a criminal or DWI history.

    Noriega underwent a 60-day diagnostic at the Western New Mexico Correctional Facility in the fall and a psychologist wrote that “it is likely best for all involved that any incarceration that might be felt appropriate to be as short in total time as possible.”

    The diagnostic, according to Aarons, states that Noriega “does not appear to have any significant substance use disorders” and although she did drink alcohol the day she crashed into Chambellan and Escovedo “she did not make impulsive or reckless decisions about her alcohol use on that day.”

    Aarons said Noriega has a nonalcoholic fatty liver disease that prevents her body from absorbing and eliminating alcohol.

    Media reports zeroed in on the disease and highlighted the judge’s questions about whether the corrections department could handle her care.

    Aarons, however, said there was a lot more that went into the sentencing decision.

    “I really think its her lack of history,” he said. “Even the Corrections Department recommended the least amount of time possible.”

    He added that the victims had also parked in an area just a couple of feet from the traveling lane and had a door open.

    Copyright © 2019 Albuquerque Journal (reprinted with permission)

    Click here to see this article as it appeared in the Albuquerque Journal 

  • Who’s Who in the World

    Congratulations on Your Acceptance into Who’s Who in the World 2019!

    We are pleased to inform you that your biography has been accepted into Marquis Who’s Who for the 2019 Edition, which is comprised of the top 3% of the professionals in the world.

    Your news release and trophy are in production!  Reservation in our network is honored to individuals who have demonstrated leadership, excellence and longevity within their respective industries and professions. Lifetime affiliation with Marquis Who’s Who entitles biographees to an expanded biographical profile online, as well as a professional news release detailing induction into Marquis Who’s Who in the World.

    Your colleagues, family and friends should know about this distinction. Announce your Honor to the world with a personalized news release and display your plaque proudly in your office or home.  The news release is available to be distributed to all the major search engines, including Google, Bing and Naver, where it will remain online permanently.

    Marquis Whos’ Who

    Since 1899

     

     

     

  • He believed every car was out to kill him

    By Sami Edge | sedge@sfnewmexican.com

    Maybe it was about a trip to Colorado gone sour. Maybe it was deeper than that.

    Whatever the case, Mark Hice and Lucas “Louie” Martinez were feuding. And the disagreement between the two Española men escalated into death threats, gunfire on a highway and, ultimately, the fatal shooting of an innocent teen.

    Recorded interviews by police and other police documents tell the story of how the bad blood between Hice and Lucas Martinez led to the death of 18-year-old Cameron Martinez of Alcalde on the northbound stretch of N.M. 68 near Ohkay Hotel Casino on the evening of Oct. 4.

    Hice and two of his friends are accused of shooting into a blue Subaru that they believed Lucas Martinez or his friends were in. But inside the car were Cameron Martinez and three of his friends, who had nothing to do with the dispute between Hice and Lucas Martinez.

    Cameron Martinez, a recent graduate of Española Valley High School and an intern at Los Alamos National Laboratory, died from a gunshot to the head. His friends were shot as well and survived.

    Hice, 22, sobbed when New Mexico State Police interviewed him after the shooting, according to an audio recording.

    “I’m sorry,” Hice said, breaking down during an interview. “I just keep seeing the kid’s face.”

    Hice and the other alleged shooters — Anton Martinez, 19, of Santa Cruz, and Axel Zamarron, 17, of Española — are each charged with first-degree murder. Brittany Garcia, 21, of Ojo Caliente, who police say was driving the car in which Hice rode, also faces a murder charge. Three other females — ages 23, 17 and 16 at the time of the shooting — face lesser charges.

    The bad blood

    It isn’t clear from police documents when Hice and Lucas Martinez, 19, of Española, first crossed paths or when their relationship began to go south.

    But Christopher Hice, a brother of Mark Hice, and Michelle Mascareñas, Mark Hice’s mother, told authorities the relationship soured after Mark Hice and Lucas Martinez had gone to Colorado to pick up marijuana.

    Sometime during the trip, Lucas Martinez ditched Hice, forcing him to hitchhike home, Mascareñas told police.

    Christopher Hice told police his brother was angry when he returned to New Mexico and went to Lucas Martinez’s house to fight him. In the altercation, Christopher Hice said, Lucas Martinez threatened to shoot Mark Hice and bury him in the backyard of Lucas Martinez’s home, known as the “Trap.”

    Mark Hice also told his brother that Lucas Martinez had threatened to put a hit on him.

    In a recorded interview, a state police officer questioned that story.

    “Do you think it was a drug debt or anything?” the officer asked Christopher Hice. “You think he might have ripped him off or something?”

    “I don’t know. Usually, he tells me the truth,” Christopher Hice said of his brother. “But honestly, like, he’s been doing bad things and I don’t know if he was trying to cover it up saying he was going to Colorado for some weed.”

    Mark Hice told police that Lucas Martinez and his friends sent him death threats and said they would kick down his door and “shoot me in my face.” They also threatened his children, ages 4 and 5, Hice said.

    State police recovered social media photos that appear to show friends of Lucas Martinez mocking Hice while holding guns.

    The shooting

    Mark Hice told police that he hadn’t heard from Lucas Martinez in the few days leading up to the shooting. But on that day, a Thursday, as he and girlfriend Garcia were driving around Española in a black Dodge Charger, they saw Lucas Martinez’s friends tailing them in a black Cadillac Escalade.

    The Cadillac followed Hice and Garcia northbound on N.M. 68, police reports say.

    Around 4 p.m., an Alcalde woman reported the two cars to state police. The caller’s family was driving northbound, she told a dispatcher, when they ended up between the Charger and the Escalade near the Ohkay Hotel Casino. She saw a man reach out of the Charger with a black handgun and fire three shots “in the direction of her and her family” and the Escalade behind them.

    Hice told police that occupants of the Cadillac shot first, so he fired backed as a warning.

    “I got scared, so I reached out the window with it and popped three shots toward the ground,” he said. “I fired off just warning shots, just to get them away from us.”

    Officers didn’t find the cars involved.

    After that afternoon shooting, Hice’s mother told police, her son was “paranoid because he believed every car was out to kill him,” reports say.

    Police reports say Hice and Garcia switched cars in Ojo Caliente in the late afternoon of Oct. 4 before heading back to Española.

    Hice bought ammunition, he told police. Then he met up with friends, drank liquor and distributed guns to a few of them: a Colt 1911 for Anton Martinez, a Glock .45 for Zamarron and a Mac-11 for himself.

    The three and their friends started to drive again in two cars and headed north on N.M. 68 when, apparently, they got spooked. They thought Lucas Martinez or his friends were on to them.

    Hice told police the blue Subaru pulled up behind the cars he and his friends were in, driving aggressively, before it started to pass in the left lane.

    “I got scared and thought it was them [Lucas Martinez or friends] because I saw one of their windows down,” Hice told police. “That’s when I thought it was them so all of us, it just, you know, we were in that thing, and we wanted to defend ourselves.”

    Hice told police that Zamarron, who was in the car in front of Hice, started firing first. Then his car joined in.

    Hice said he fired nine rounds. He said Zamarron emptied a full clip and that Anton Martinez shot once.

    Zamarron remembers things slightly differently. He told police that as the Subaru was passing, he heard shots. Thinking his friend had just been shot at, police reports say, Zamarron leaned out the window of the car and started shooting.

    But he told police he didn’t fire a full clip or hit Cameron Martinez with any of his bullets.

    “I aimed toward the floor,” he told police, according to their written reports.

    Not long after the shooting, a state police officer pulled over to help the occupants of the Subaru, which had stopped in the median on N.M. 68. He found Cameron Martinez dead and the three occupants others shot.

    The arrests

    In the days after the shooting, Hice and Garcia turned themselves in to state police. Police searched two homes for Anton Martinez before he turned himself in. Zamarron surrendered after police surrounded his home Oct. 7.

    Zamarron told police he’d never hung out with Hice before the night of Oct. 4. Zamarron had decided to be friends with Hice because Hice did not like the people charged with shooting and killing Nicholas Kaye, Zamarron’s best friend, during a shootout at an Española gas station in June.

    Police documents say Hice had been living with Anton Martinez prior to the shooting. Hice’s mother told police that Martinez had “lured Mark into the ‘gangster life’ and had Mark selling cocaine with him.”

    According to police interview recordings, Anton Martinez told police he was innocent but wouldn’t answer questions without a lawyer.

    In an email Friday, Anton Martinez’s defense lawyer, Stephen Aarons, said Hice “has apologized in the jail for his police statements” and that Hice’s family “is just hoping to avoid some of the consequences for the shooting.”

    Aarons said Anton Martinez’s defense in court will be that he only fired one round after the group had passed Cameron Martinez’s car because “he didn’t want Hice or the girls to think he was afraid or not ‘part of it.’ ”

    Lawyers for Hice and Lucas Martinez did not return calls for comment.

    Anton Martinez, Hice, Zamarron and Garcia are being held in jail without bond as the cases against them wind through state District Court.

    Hice’s past

    In addition to first-degree murder, Hice faces charges of shooting at or from a motor vehicle, conspiracy and tampering with evidence in the death of Cameron Martinez.

    It isn’t his first trouble with the law.

    In 2015, court records show, Hice was charged with false imprisonment and battery against a household member when his girlfriend told police that Hice trapped her inside an apartment and shoved her away from the door.

    Police found the woman with a red mark on her chest, court records show. Hice told police he was arguing with the woman and got angry when she told him she didn’t want to be with him anymore. Charges in that case were dropped.

    Hice was also charged with driving under the influence of marijuana and possessing drug paraphernalia in 2017, but those charges were dropped as well.

    Lucas Martinez is not facing charges related to any of the shootings on N.M. 68 on Oct. 4. But he still has legal troubles.

    Lucas Martinez faces charges of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon in the shooting of an Española woman in October. He also faces charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor after two boys reported getting shot accidentally while hanging out with Lucas Martinez and friends, drinking alcohol and handling guns in November.

    One of the boys told police that Lucas Martinez “is known for carrying and distributing illegal narcotics” from his home.

    The District Attorney’s Office has asked a judge to hold Lucas Martinez in jail pending his trial, arguing he is a danger to the community.

    Lucas Martinez was charged in August with a felony for allegedly possessing a stolen firearm, but the case was dismissed, documents show.

    Copyright 2018 Santa Fe New Mexican | Reprinted with Permission

     

  • Woman held in infant death granted release in Santa Fe

    by Phaedra Haywood
    (c) 2018 Santa Fe New Mexican Republished with Permission
    Woman held in infant death granted release

    Rachel Smith sits with attorneys during a hearing in District Court on Tuesday. Smith was being held in the death of 3-month-old she was baby-sitting. PHAEDRA HEYWOOD | THE NEW MEXICAN

    Rachel Smith, 27, had been in jail since her March 2017 arrest in connection with the death of the baby boy at a Cerrillos Road motel.

    The infant’s mother — then 17 years-old — had left two children with Smith for five days preceding the death, according to court records, and Smith was living with the children in the Thunderbird Motel when she woke up one morning to find the baby was not breathing.

    Investigators originally speculated that Smith — a heroin addict who admitted shooting up in the bathroom while she was watching the boy and his 2 year-old sister — might have rolled over on the boy. However, an autopsy later revealed the infant had bleeding in his brain consistent with “blunt force trauma.”

    Smith’s defense attorney, Stephen Aarons, filed a motion in November seeking to have the charges dismissed on grounds that her rights to a speedy trial and discovery of evidence had been violated. Among other things, he argued that it took prosecutors about a year to produce Children Youth and Family Department records that could include evidence that the infant’s mother had abused him.

    State District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer postponed her decision on that motion during a hearing Tuesday, saying she needed to review the Children Youth and Family Department records before ruling.

    Aarons also filed a motion challenging one of the state’s expert witnesses, saying the proposed witness’s opinions on “shaken baby syndrome” as it relates to pinpointing when the child received the fatal injury are not typical and have been contradicted in literature that says determining time of injury is the unreliable “Achilles heel” of forensic pathology.

    Sommer also postponed ruling on that motion Tuesday, directing Aarons and Assistant District Attorney Larissa Breen to expand written briefs on the issue before the judge considers the matter again next month

  • National Trial Lawyers Top 100

    The National Trial Lawyers (NTL) is a respected organization and brand. We recognize
    only the most qualified attorneys from each state or region. Our national membership of
    esteemed and respected lawyers has embraced the National Trial Lawyers Top 100 criminal defense honor and used it to their advantage. Lawyers communicating and marketing the recognition they have received from the NTL in biographies, on websites, or in office reception areas as well as benefiting from referrals, a robust NTL website, networking opportunities and many other privileges of membership have helped their businesses prosper.
    Our membership is limited and growing … you have been selected to join this premier
    association so Secure your spot now and help your practice grow; Make a lasting
    network. If you have any questions or would like assistance initiating your membership, please contact your National Membership Director Isabelle Aultman at
    membershipdirector@ntlcd.org or 205-453-7745. We look forward to partnering with you
    as a member of this premier, invitation only group of trial lawyers.

    Sincerely,
    Isabelle Aultman
    Membership Director
    The National Trial Lawyers

  • Santa Fe puts DWI vehicle forfeiture program on hold

    SANTA FE, N.M. — The city of Santa Fe today announced that it has put its DWI vehicle forfeiture program on hold.

    According to a news release, the New Mexico Court of Appeals on Dec. 5 ruled that state law preempts Albuquerque’s civil forfeiture ordinance.

    “Although the case was specific to Albuquerque, in a broad ruling the court held that state law was intended to allow only criminal—not civil forfeiture, in any jurisdiction in the state,” the city said in a news release. “In response, we’re putting a moratorium on our DWI Vehicle Forfeiture program. The moratorium will hold until further notice.”

  • Investigation into fourth Martens suspect ‘has stalled’

    BY KATY BARNITZ / JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

    Two detectives assigned full time to the Victoria Martens homicide case will begin work on unrelated investigations after attempts to identify an elusive fourth suspect have stalled, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

    “In the absence of Jessica Kelley’s continued cooperation following the District Court’s rejection of her plea agreement, the investigation into the unidentified male has stalled,” Michael Patrick, DA’s Office spokesman, said in a statement. “Detectives will continue to work any new leads that are developed, but it is our understanding that they will also support other investigations.”

    In September, Kelley had been set to plead guilty to multiple charges under an agreement that required her to testify at related trials and to offer statements to authorities. District Attorney Raúl Torrez said then that her cooperation was critically important to the state’s investigation into the well-dressed stranger that Kelley says killed the 10-year-old girl. But Judge Charles Brown rejected the plea, saying he was not presented with enough evidence that Kelley committed the crimes to which she was pleading.

    Gilbert Gallegos, spokesman for APD, said the detectives “hit a critical point” in their investigation into the mystery suspect and expressed to their supervisors that they “felt like they could be doing additional work (in other cases) while they wait for these new leads.”

    “They’re still on the case – they’ll still be prepared to go forward if they develop new leads,” he said. “A new lead could come in any number of ways.”

    City spokeswoman Alicia Manzano said in an email Monday that the city is “committed to seeing the case through to the end,” but the police department is “also working on other crimes throughout the city, and needs to make the best use of resources, including detective time.”

    Kelley is set for trial next month; her attorney declined to comment on the development.

    But the announcement came as no surprise to Steve Aarons, the Santa Fe attorney who is representing Kelley’s cousin and co-defendant, Fabian Gonzales.

    “The fourth suspect is a figment of Jessica Kelley’s imagination, just one more false statement to avoid life in prison for her murder of Victoria Martens,” he wrote in an email.

    Kelley said during a September hearing that she was high on meth and baby-sitting Victoria when a man she did not know walked in and killed the girl. Prosecutors said he then told Kelley to clean up the mess or she and her children would be next. Prosecutors say the child was killed in an act of retaliation after Gonzales made threats to members of a rival gang.

    When police were called to the Martens family’s apartment on the West Side hours later, they found the child’s body burning in a bathtub. Kelley and Gonzales, who was dating Victoria’s mother at the time, are accused of dismembering the girl.

    Michelle Martens, the child’s mother, has pleaded guilty to various crimes and faces up to 15 years in prison. Contrary to early accounts of the crime, prosecutors say neither she nor Gonzales was at the apartment at the time of Victoria’s death.

    Kelley had been expected to plead guilty to child abuse resulting in death and lesser charges, and she faced nearly 50 years in prison.

    But Brown said he would not accept that agreement, saying there was no indication that Kelley knew or should have known that the person who entered the apartment intended to kill the child.

    In a press conference shortly after that hearing, Torrez suggested that the rejection would harm his office’s ability to prosecute remaining suspects and to identify the fourth one. And Gallegos said Monday that if Kelley were to accept another plea agreement, detectives could wind up with new leads.

    At trial, she faces numerous charges, including murder and child abuse resulting in death.

    Detectives ‘disappeared’

    Monday’s announcement regarding the investigation comes after the two APD detectives working the case cleared out their workspace at the DA’s Office on Thursday night and left their key cards behind without first notifying prosecutors, Patrick said Friday.

    “There’s no reason for it. They’ve been investigating this case for the better part of two years,” Patrick said. “Suddenly they’ve – without notice or even a phone call – they’ve disappeared.”

    They had been working in a shared space with the DA’s Office, focusing solely on the Martens case.

    Gallegos said that night that the detectives received permission from their supervisors “to work on additional investigations in the department while the prosecution wraps up its trial work in this case.” He said detectives would be available to pursue new leads as they arise.

    By Saturday morning, Patrick said he had been told by APD leadership that “the two detectives will be back on Monday.”

    “It doesn’t appear that the mayor knew that they had been pulled,” Patrick wrote in a text.

    Patrick sent an email Monday afternoon acknowledging the detectives would be working other cases as well.

    Copyright © 2018 Albuquerque Journal

    Reprinted with Permission

  • Man gets 7 years for kidnapping, battery in Santa Fe

    By Phaedra Haywood | phaywood@sfnewmexican.com

    Man gets 7 years for kidnapping, battery in Santa Fe
    Daniel Tadege is led to the podium during his plea hearing in June in District Court. Phaedra Haywood/New Mexican file photo

    A judge on Monday sentenced an Ethiopian immigrant to seven years in prison for his role last year in the drug-related kidnapping and pistol whipping of a Santa Fe teenager.

    Authorities said Daniel Tadege, 21, and two or three other people went to the home of a 17-year-old boy, forced the victim into a Jeep at gunpoint, then beat and threatened the teen with a gun before abandoning him on Mutt Nelson Road.

    Tadege in June pleaded guilty to kidnapping and aggravated battery in a plea deal that exposed him to between two and 10 years in prison.

    Defense lawyer Stephen Aarons said Tadege had been left alone in the United States at the age of 18 when his mother and sister returned to Ethiopia, and that Tadege began dealing cocaine to support himself and pay tuition at Santa Fe Community College.

    Aarons said the victim was a customer who had robbed Tadege of money and drugs at gunpoint a few days earlier.

    Tadege’s assaulted the younger man, Aarons said, “to take his stuff back and teach [the victim] never to jump him again.”

    “It doesn’t justify it,” the lawyer said, “but it does explain it.”

    Aarons said Tadege’s mother had flown in from Ethiopia to attend the hearing, but she did not speak Monday. Another Ethiopian woman, a friend of the family, did speak on Tadege’s behalf, begging the judge to “correct the real horror” that had befallen him when he was left alone in a country that was not his own.

    “They brought him here and left him on the street,” she said.

    Aarons asked District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer to send Tadege to a two-year program at the Delancey Street Foundation, a residential self-help program aimed rehabilitating substance abusers, ex-convicts and others.

    But prosecutor Blake Nichols asked the judge to give Tadege prison time.

    “The state is not immune to the plight of immigrant youth and does not oppose folks coming to this country for opportunity,” Nichols said. “The opportunity to sell cocaine and beat someone within an inch of his life is not the opportunity they came here for.”

    Tadege also addressed the court, saying he recognized that he made mistakes that hurt the victim and his family and asking for “a chance to get a grip” on his life at Delancey Street.

    But the judge sentenced Tadege to prison, noting that Tadege had a job in a restaurant when his mother left the country but, apparently unsatisfied with the money he earned there, resorted almost immediately to “illegal activity and significant violence.”

    The judge said Tadege would receive credit for about a year and a half spent behind bars but would have to serve 85 percent of his prison term — ineligible for day-for-day good time credit — because the crime was a serious violent offense.

    Sommer said Tadege would likely be deported upon completing his sentence. But Aarons said Tadege received a renewal of his 10-year green card while the case was pending and might have some time to remain in the country legally after his release.

    Tadege’s mother declined to comment following the hearing.

    District Attorney Marco Serna, asked whether the other participants in the kidnapping had been prosecuted, said “the victim was unable to identify either of the other adults who allegedly participated. The other defendant that was identified is a juvenile, and I cannot comment on juvenile cases.”

  • Murder charge against youth dropped, but he remains a suspect

    by Sami Edge The New Mexican | © The New Mexican | reprinted with permission

    District Attorney Marco Serna said Tuesday he will dismiss a murder charge against a 17-year-old Santa Fe boy, but the youth remains a suspect in the shooting death of a man from Michigan.

    The defendant, Zachary Gutierrez, was charged in the murder of 64-year-old Richard Milan. Milan died after being shot in September while walking his dog near Airport road.Serna said his staff does not have time to present the case to a grand jury before a Dec. 13 deadline. Even so, Gutierrez remains a suspect in Milan’s death, Serna stated in an email.

    Earlier this month, Serna told The New Mexican that pursuit of an indictment against Gutierrez had been postponed because his office was reviewing new information. Neither he nor police would elaborate on the new information.

    But Gutierrez’s attorney, Stephen Aarons, wrote on his website Tuesday that he recovered new video recordings of eye witnesses in the case which, he says, “confirmed that Gutierrez was an innocent bystander, not the shooter.”

    “We commend the prosecution and Santa Fe Police Detectives in reopening their investigation in light of new evidence,” Aarons wrote. “What is important now is to find the truth and prosecute the real shooter for this senseless murder.”

    Serna said Gutierrez will remain incarcerated at a youth detention center until mid-December. Milan, of Kalamazoo, Mich., was in Santa Fe visiting relatives when he was shot.