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

Category: Media

  • Death Penalty Is Repealed in New Mexico

    By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

    SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Gov. Bill Richardson signed legislation Wednesday to repeal New Mexico’s death penalty, calling it the “most difficult decision in my political life.”

    The legislation replaces lethal injection with a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

    “Faced with the reality that our system for imposing the death penalty can never be perfect, my conscience compels me to replace the death penalty with a solution that keeps society safe,” Mr. Richardson said at a news conference in the Capitol.

    The governor, a Democrat, faced a deadline of midnight for making a decision on the bill that lawmakers sent him last week.

    New Mexico is only the second state to ban executions since the United States Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. New Jersey was the first, in 2007. In all, 15 states now bar capital punishment.

    New Mexico has executed only one person since 1960, Terry Clark, a child killer, in 2001.

    Two men are currently on death row, Robert Fry of Farmington and Timothy Allen of Bloomfield. Their sentences are not affected by the new law

    Mr. Richardson, who formerly supported capital punishment, said his decision was “extremely difficult,” and he solicited advice over the weekend from state residents.

    Among those urging the governor to sign the bill was the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Officials of the Roman Catholic Church lobbied hard for repeal.

    Lt. Gov. Diane D. Denish, a Democrat, said she delivered a handwritten note to the governor on Wednesday indicating her support for repeal.

    The New Mexico Sheriffs’ and Police Association opposed repeal, saying capital punishment deterred violence against police officers, jailers and prison guards. District attorneys also opposed the legislation, arguing that the death penalty was a useful prosecutorial tool.

    New Mexico was one of several states considering repealing the death penalty this year. In Kansas, a bill to do so failed to clear the Senate this week.

  • “I knew I was Innocent”

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    FIRST DAY OF FREEDOM:

    DA Drops Murder Charges Against Two

    Publication: Albuquerque Journal Final Edition; Page: A1 by Hall, Heinz, Journal Staff Writer

    Michael Lee has “NOT GUILTY” tattooed in 3-inch high letters across his back. He got the tattoo in prison using sharpened staples and burned petroleum jelly, a process that took 38 hours over two months. Lee said knowing he wasn’t guilty is what got him through the 15 months he spent in the Metropolitan Detention Center on murder charges that were dropped Wednesday. “I knew I was innocent,” he said.

    Lee and Travis Rowley have been at MDC since December 2007, when they were charged with the killing of Tak and Pung Yi, an elderly Korean couple who were slain in their home. The men were released Wednesday after District Attorney Kari Brandenburg said her office was “ethically obligated” to drop the charges until it could build a stronger case. She emphasized that the investigation continues and that the charges can be refiled if more evidence is found to advance the case.

    The two men looked exuberant during a news conference Wednesday. Rowley sipped an iced caramel macchiato from Starbucks, and both men had changed from their orange jumpsuits into dress clothes provided by the Public Defender’s Office that were a little too big. “I can’t wait to give my mom a hug,” Lee said.

    Rowley and Lee were arrested more than 15 months ago after witnesses living near the Yis told officers that a man matching Rowley’s description had been selling magazines in the area and had tried to talk his way into a nearby home. Rowley later confessed to the killings, but that confession has been called into question by his attorneys. Defense attorneys at Wednesday’s news conference said they felt the police investigation had focused too early on Rowley and Lee Instead of following up on other possible leads.

    Albuquerque police spokesman John Walsh said the Police Department stands firmly behind its 1nvestigat1on and still believes that Rowley and Lee were involved in the Yi k1lhngs.

    “The Distnct Attorney’s Office has requested some further investigation that is being done noe and chose to put the prosecution on hold,” he said. “We anticipate that these two individuals wtll be brought to Justice.” The case against the men began to unravel after DNA collected from under Tak Vi’s fingernails was matched to career criminal Clifton Bloomfield, then in prison for another homicide.

    Bloomfield has since pleaded guilty to killing the Yis and three other people.

    Stephen Aarons, one of Rowley’s defense attorneys, said he is grateful to Tak Yi, 79, for struggling to save himself and his wife Pung, 69, who was raped before she was killed. That struggle left DNA under Tak Vi’s fingernails that was used to link Bloomfield to the crime. “My thoughts are of Tak Yi,” Aarons said. “He fought Bloomfield, and he couldn’t save himself or his wife, but he did save these two men.”

     Journal staff writer Scott Sandlin contributed to this story.

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  • Fourth Defendant Acquitted

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    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Trial of fourth defendant accused of killing Mexican national starts today in Taos.

    3/3/08 UPDATE: We neglected to catch up with the outcome of the fourth straight murder trial to be held in Taos in the death of 22-year-old Juan Alcantar in September 2003.
    Here’s what the Albuquerque Journal reported last Friday:

    The fourth defendant to stand trial for murder in the 2003 death of a Mexican national was found not guilty Thursday by a Taos jury, which took only an hour and a half to decide his fate after a two-day trial.

    Acquitted of charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder was 55-year-old Elias Romero, who took the stand in his own defense to deny the allegations that he supplied a syringe filled with heroin and ordered co-conspirators to fatally inject 22-year-old Juan Alcantar.

    A Taos jury on Monday convicted Luis “Tablas” Trujillo, 35, of first-degree murder and other charges for his part in the September 2003 of Juan Alcantar — the third defendant to be found guilty of the murder this month, The Taos News reported.

    Alcantar, who lived in Questa, was found burned inside his car at a Taos church parking lot after having been beaten and injected with a lethal dose of heroin, the News reported.
    Steve Tollardo, 34, and Lawrence “Pifas” Gallegos, 28, were found guilty of murder and other charges earlier this month, the paper said.

    The final defendant, Elias “Baby” Romero, 55, is scheduled to go on trial today, the News reported.

    7:55am 2/22/08 — Third Murder Trial Under Way in Taos: Two already convicted in 2003 death of Mexican national.
    The third of four scheduled trials of men accused in the 2003 death of Mexican national Juan Alcantar-Zarazua got under way in Taos Thursday with prosecutors claiming that 35-year-old Luis “Tablas” Trujillo struck the first blow and drove fellow defendants to the church parking lot where the victim was burned alive, The Taos News reported.
    Alcantar, whose age has been variously given as 21 and 22, was given a lethal injection of heroin, strangled, suffocated, then set on fire by four men who conspired to kill him and cover up the evidence by burning Alcantar’s car and body, according to an earlier Albuquerque Journal report.
    Two defendants already have been convicted in a series of separate trials being held in state District Court in Taos.
    Advertisement

    The first defendant, 34-year-old Steve Tollardo was found guilty of murder in a trial that ended on Feb. 15, and on Wednesday 28-year-old Lawrence Gallegos was convicted of first-degree murder, aggravated arson and kidnapping, plus three counts of conspiracy, the Journal reported this week.
    Trujillo is facing the same charges in a trial that is expected to wrap up on Monday, The Taos News reported.
    The fourth defendant, 55-year-old Elias “Baby” Romero, is expected to follow next week, the paper said.
    Trujillo’s trial began Thursday with his defense attorney, Daniel Salazar, claiming that the state’s case was based on the “lies” of 27-year-old Michelle Martinez, who has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder Alcantar and is serving 15 years in prison, The Taos News reported.

    Final trial begins in 2003 murder
    Posted Wednesday, February 27, 2008 5:00 pm
    By Chandra Johnson

    A jury heard opening statements Tuesday (Feb. 26) in the trial of a man accused of murdering a 21-year-old man in 2003.

    Elias “Baby” Romero, 55, faces charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder for his alleged part in the murder of Juan Alcántar, a Mexican national who was living with his girlfriend in Questa at the time of his death.

    Romero is accused, among other things, of allegedly providing the syringe of heroin used to inject and kill Alcántar, whose body was found burning in a car in a church parking lot after being beaten and injected with a lethal dose of heroin in September of 2003.

    Three other men in the case have already faced trial ahead of Romero. Luis “Tablas” Trujillo and Lawrence “Pifas” Gallegos were both convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping, aggravated arson and three more charges of conspiracy. Steve Tollardo was found guilty of the same charges except aggravated arson and conspiracy to commit aggravated arson.

    Deputy district attorney Jeff McElroy told the jury that although Romero faces fewer charges than the other men, his role was still paramount in Alcántar’s death.

    “This defendant prepared a syringe of heroin and sent his 21-year-old girlfriend, Michelle Martínez, out to inject and kill Juan Alcántar,” McElroy said. “With that, he was sending his own message.”

    But defense attorney Steve Aarons assured the jury that the evidence would show that Romero was a victim of circumstance.

    “Don’t let Michelle Martínez take you for a ride. She’s the only one who claims that Elias was somehow involved,” Aarons said. “In the end, we don’t have to rely on Michelle Martínez’s testimony. Whoever Elias Romero is and whatever he’s done in his life, he is not guilty of murder.”

    If convicted, Romero could face life in prison.

     

     

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  • CBS Evening News – Jessica Quintana

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    “When Jessica Quintana wanted to sneak classified material out of the nation’s top nuclear weapons lab, the biggest outrage is how scandalously simple it was…cbs-evening-news-katie-couric

    Quintana has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and faces up to a year in jail. Her lawyer says Americans can thank her for one thing: exposing persistent gaps in security at a place guarding some of our most sensitive nuclear secrets.”

    Watch the video and full article at CBS News

    [/column]

    Exclusive: Los Alamos Breach Was Easy

    When Jessica Quintana wanted to sneak classified material out of the nation’s top nuclear weapons lab, the biggest outrage is how scandalously simple it was.
    “Where I was, It was easy,” she tells CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson. Last week Quintana, 23, plead guilty to the national security breach at Los Alamos. In an exclusive interview with CBS News, she tells how she did it.She was just 18, right out of high school, when the Lab hired her to archive documents. The job came with a security clearance that gave her access to highly sensitive weapons data.Last summer Quintana claims she wanted to take some work home, a major security violation. She walked unchallenged into a special work vault with a computer storage device called a flashdrive.

    “I had the flashdrive in my pocket when I entered the vault that day,” recalls Quintana. “And at some point in the day I knew I wasn’t being watched, the racks were open, simply inserted the flashdrive into my computer, took what I needed.”

    It was material related to underground nuclear weapons tests from the 70’s, and she printed more classified documents — 228 pages.

    “I printed out the pages I needed and put in my backpack with my school books and walked out like I did every day,” said Quintana.

    The materials were found accidentally months later by local police during a drug raid on Quintana’s roommate in their trailer home, reports Attkisson.

    It’s an understatement to say that walking out with national secrets shouldn’t have been so easy, especially in light of the rash of security scandals at Los Alamos: missing hard drives, even radioactive material smuggled out.

    Tens of millions of tax dollars have been spent to upgrade security. Quintana’s case raises the question. Have others, even spies, made off with top secret material?

    Quintana says in the years she worked at the lab, nobody ever questioned or searched her. Not once.

    “They were so lax about coming in and out,” said Quintana.

    Congress was so outraged that the Energy Department fired its top nuclear security official.

    Quintana has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and faces up to a year in jail. Her lawyer says Americans can thank her for one thing: exposing persistent gaps in security at a place guarding some of our most sensitive nuclear secrets.

    Copyright 2007 CBS. All rights reserved.
    See also Newsweek cover page story, 6/25/2007 | John Barry Newsweek logo

    Los Alamos confirms data breach

    reprinted from LA Times LAT ^ | Oct. 26, 2006 | Ralph Vartabedian Posted on 10/28/2006, 8:59:52 PM by FairOpinion

    Los Alamos National Laboratory, one of the nation’s key nuclear weapons research centers, confirmed Wednesday that it experienced a potentially major security breach — discovered last week when police found three laboratory computer drives during a drug arrest at a New Mexico trailer park.Police reports released Wednesday identified the owner of the trailer, where officers found a sizable amount of drug paraphernalia associated with methamphetamine use, as Jessica Quintana. Law enforcement officials said Quintana was a former contract employee at the lab.The FBI executed a second search of the trailer in Los Alamos on Friday but sealed the warrant and said little about what agents found.Quintana was employed as an archivist and apparently had a key security clearance, including approvals to participate in special access programs, according to sources familiar with the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case.
    (Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com …

     

     

    • US v. Jessica Quintana, 1:07-cr-00931-LFG-1

      Outcome:
      Misdemeanor probation
      Description:
      Los Alamos National Laboratory employee brought top secret documents home. ## http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/03/national/main2151021.shtml ## http://www.abqjournal.com/north/510427north_news11-09-06.htm

     

  • Monster Slayer

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    The Story of Serial Killer Robert Fry

    By Robert Scott (www.kensingtonbooks.com)

    Pages 240-241

    The first problems came for Fry’s defense team, Ed Bustamante and Eric Hannum, who were suddenly removed from the case. The state’s defenders’ office stepped in and began to negotiate a contract with Santa Fe lawyer Stephen Aarons.  Steve Aarons had a long and colorful career as an attorney.  He had attended George Washington University, Saint Louis University and Oxford University.  He was a lieutenant colonel in the Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps of the Army. He had prosecuted fifty court martial cases between 1980 and 1983 and was special defense counsel in a Nürnberg, Germany, murder trial.  He spoke Spanish and German.

    Aarons opened his own law office in Santa Fe in 1992, and he had been practicing as a defense lawyer since then, handling over thirty murder cases.  One very interesting case that he was involved in just before the Fry/Tsosie trial was that of Judge Charles Maestas, of Espanola, New Mexico.  Four women accused Maestas of propositioning them.  They said that Maestas had promised to reduce their citations if they had sex with him.  Suzette Salazar actually went ahead and had sex with Maestas – but she audio taped their sexual encounter.

    At Maestas trial, Aarons acknowledged that the man did have sex with Salazar, but he said the sex was consensual. Aarons told Court TV,  “It’s not illegal to have sex.  Evidence will be presented that at least three of the four women did not tell the truth about their allegations.”

    Things took an even more bizarre turn when the lead investigator for the state, Karen Yontz, was shot dead while allegedly trying to rob a bank. Aarons contended that Yontz set up the whole scheme to try and discredit Judge Maestas in the first place. Just before the Robert Fry trial began, Judge Maestas was found guilty and sentenced to three years in prison. It was a victory of sorts for Aarons because the jury had acquitted on over forty counts as to three of the four women and the sentence was light compared to the hundred years Maestas might have received.

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  • Serial Murderer Get Two Life Sentences

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    [c

    • State of New Mexico v. Robert Fry, D-1116-CR-200000542

      Practice Area:
      Violent crime
      Date:
      Dec 01, 2000
      Outcome:
      Life sentence
      Description:
      Fry II. Serial murderer’s life spared in second death penalty trial

    • State of New Mexico v. Robert Fry D-1116-CR-200001055

      Practice Area:
      Violent crime
      Date:
      Jan 01, 2000
      Outcome:
      Life sentence
      Description:
      Third jury trial of serial killer

    • Friday, January 21, 2005

      Man Convicted of 2 Murders; Farmington Store Site of Killings

      The Associated Press
          Robert Fry was found guilty Thursday of first-degree murder in the 1996 slaying of two men inside a counterculture store in downtown Farmington.
      Jurors deliberated for 11 hours before reaching a verdict. Fry, who had been smiling earlier, put his hands on the table before him and hung his head after hearing the verdict.
      Fry, 31, was charged in the Nov. 29, 1996 slayings of Matthew Trecker, 18, and Joseph Fleming, 25. They were stabbed and their throats slashed in the now-defunct Eclectic store.
      Fry was also found guilty of larceny, tampering with evidence and intimidation of a witness.
      He was immediately sentenced to two consecutive life sentences, 41/2 years for tampering with evidence and 6 years for intimidation.
      “Matt and Joe are smiling today and I’m glad I was a part of it,” Assistant District Attorney Mitch Burns said.
      Defense Attorney Steve Aarons said he will appeal the convictions.
      Fry already is facing the death penalty for the 2000 murder of a Shiprock woman and is serving a life sentence for the 1998 murder of an Arizona man.
      In closing arguments Wednesday, prosecutors had asked the jury to piece together a puzzle of evidence linking Fry to the killings.
      The puzzle pieces consisted of testimony from witnesses and statements made by Fry during an inconclusive polygraph test. During the interview, Fry gave his “theory” of how the killings occurred, and prosecutors said the details were too close to reality to be overlooked.
      Fry had said that if he were the killer he would cut Fleming’s throat and lay him down. This happened, according to testimony from a crime scene investigator.
      “We have a braggart giving details,” Assistant District Attorney Brent Capshaw said Wednesday. “In the process of bragging, he can’t help disclosing facts only the killer would know.”
      But the defense argued that Fry was attempting to help solve the mystery of who killed the young men.

     

    [/column]

  • Jury Says Killing in Self Defense

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    Killing Was Self-Defense.(Journal North)

    Byline: Jeremy Pawloski, Albuquerque Journal Staff Writer

    Slain youth’s family denies allegations he was involved with gangs

    A 17-year-old boy who admitted to fatally stabbing a Santa Fe police officer’s brother last year walked out of court a free man late Thursday night after a jury found that he acted in self-defense.

    Fred Mestas of Santa Fe was at an undisclosed location Friday afternoon out of fear for his safety, his attorney, Stephen Aarons said.

    Meanwhile, the family of Jason Vasquez, 19, who was stabbed by Mestas in the heart and the abdomen the night of June 13, 2001, was trying to come to grips with the verdict.

    Mestas was acquitted of second-degree murder.

    “For me, working in Santa Fe and having to work in the area where my brother was killed … it’s hard,” said Jason’s older brother, Santa Fe Police Officer Robert Vasquez, 24. “Obviously, no justice was served. …

    Murder Defendant Describes Fatal Fight.(Journal North)

    Article from: Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, NM) | March 21, 2002 | Copyright Byline: Jeremy Pawloski Journal Staff Writer

    Demonstration Given in Court

    Bent down on one knee, 17-year-old Fred Mestas showed a jury Wednesday how he pulled a knife from a strap in his pants and used it to strike out during a fight at the Cottonwood Village mobile home park on June 13, 2001.

    “I reached for the knife, I put my head down and I just started punching,” Mestas said earlier during his testimony.

    Two of Mestas’ blows with the knife mortally wounded Jason Vasquez, 19, the younger brother of Santa Fe Police Officer Robert Vasquez.

    Mestas is charged with a count of second-degree murder in Vasquez’s death and tampering with evidence for throwing away the knife. …

    —

    Jury Says Killing Was Self-Defense.(Journal North)

    A
    Teen Facing Murder Charges in Trailer Park Stabbing.(Journal North)

    Article from: Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, NM) | March 13, 2002 | Copyright
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    Byline: Jeremy Pawloski Journal Staff Writer

    A 16-year-old Santa Fe boy despondent over losing his ex-girlfriend brought a kitchen knife with him when he went looking for her at a mobile home park the night of June 13, 2001, according to http://www.go-binder.com/ and  court records.

    “He was in a sad mood,” Eric Rael has said in court of his friend Fred Mestas, on the night Mestas left to find his ex-girlfriend, Felicia Valdez.

    Prosecutors allege Mestas used the knife that night to kill Jason Vasquez, a Santa Fe police officer’s brother.

    Mestas, now 17, is charged with second-degree murder in connection with Vasquez’s death. His trial starts Thursday before 1st District Judge Stephen Pfeffer.

    According to court records, Mestas and Vasquez had a fistfight when a group of teens confronted each other on Sycamore Loop in the Cottonwood Village mobile home park the night of Vasquez’s death. …

    Fatal Stabbing Suspect Out of Jail.

    Article from: Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, NM) | August 9, 2001 | Copyright
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    Byline: Wren Propp Journal Staff Writer

    Teen Now Under House Arrest

    A 16-year-old accused of stabbing a man to death in a Santa Fe mobile home park was released from jail Wednesday but placed under house arrest while waiting for trial.

    Two state district court judges had to sign off on the release of Fred Mestas, who faces a second-degree murder charge in the death of Jason Vasquez, 20, of Penasco.

    Vasquez was stabbed once in the chest and once in the abdomen during an altercation between two groups of teen-agers who had a history of violent confrontation.

    The murder charge against Mestas is being heard by State District Judge Stephen Pfeffer. …

    Friends Say Fatal-Stabbing Suspect Was Attacked.

    Article from: Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, NM) | July 12, 2001 | Copyright
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    Byline: Jeremy Pawloski Journal Staff Writer

    Teen Is Facing Murder Charge

    Friends of Fred Mestas, a 16-year-old charged in the stabbing death of Jason Vasquez, 20, testified Wednesday that they saw Mestas being attacked by a group of 15 or more the night of Vasquez’s death.

    “As I ran up I saw just a bunch of guys around Fred, beating him as if he were a dog,” said Michael Gonzales during Mestas’ preliminary hearing before Santa Fe Magistrate George Anaya.

    Gonzales had previously written in a statement to police that he saw “Fred stab someone” that night, Deputy District Attorney Tony Julian said.

    But Gonzales said Wednesday he does not recall Mestas stabbing anyone on the night Vasquez died. …

    Self-Defense Claimed as Murder Trial Opens.(Journal North)

    Article from: Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, NM) | March 15, 2002 | Copyright
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    Byline: Jeremy Pawloski Journal Staff Writer

    Trailer Park Site of Stabbing

    A prosecutor said Thursday that 17-year-old Fred Mestas “was a festering boil of love, jealousy, anger, revenge and finally murder,” on the night of Jason Vasquez’s fatal stabbing at the Cottonwood Village mobile home park on June 13, 2001.

    But Mestas’ attorney said Mestas acted out of self-defense during a fight that night and “was getting hit multiple times by multiple people,” including by one young man wielding a broomstick, when Mestas stabbed the 19-year-old Vasquez twice.

    “Thank God, he had a knife,” Mestas’ attorney, Stephen Aarons, said during opening statements in Mestas’ second-degree murder trial before 1st Judicial District Judge Stephen Pfeffer. …

    Suspect Says He Was Jumped.

    Article from: Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, NM) | June 22, 2001 | Copyright
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    Byline: Jeremy Pawloski Journal Staff Writer

    Teen Held on Open Count of Murder

    A 16-year-old boy charged with murder in a fatal stabbing at the Cottonwood Village mobile home park last week told police he was “jumped” while taking a walk on Sycamore Loop, according to the probable cause statement for his arrest.

    Fred Mestas, 16, of Santa Fe, is charged with an open count of murder in the fatal stabbing of Jason Vasquez, 20, of Penasco on the night of June 14.

    Vasquez was stabbed twice once in the chest and once in the abdomen in front of 2612 Sycamore Loop and died at the scene, according to the statement.

    Mestas had “visible injuries to his face, arms and neck area” when he turned himself in to sheriff’s deputies Thursday near the Old Las Vegas Highway with his mother, the probable cause statement says.

    —

    Gun Report Puts Teen Slaying Suspect Back in Jail.

    Article from: Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, NM) | November 15, 2001 | Copyright
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    Byline: Jeremy Pawloski Journal Staff Writer

    House Arrest Order Violation Alleged

    A Children’s Court judge on Wednesday ordered that a Santa Fe boy charged with murder must go back to jail after he was accused of violating his house arrest by shooting a neighbor in the leg with a pellet gun, a police report said.

    Children’s Court Judge Barbara Vigil said in court Wednesday that she does not know if the charge that Fred Mestas, 16, shot a neighbor in the leg with a pellet gun is true. Mestas’ attorney on Wednesday entered a denial to the charge.

    Vigil nonetheless placed Mestas back in detention and said that, even if Mestas was only shooting a pellet gun at tin cans, that in itself is a probation violation. …

    Boy Charged in Killing Released From Detention.

    Article from: Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, NM) | November 20, 2001 | Copyright
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    Byline: Jeremy Pawloski Journal Staff Writer

    Police Allege Youth Used Pellet Gun

    A Children’s Court judge on Monday ordered that a Santa Fe boy charged in a killing be released from detention, after his attorney argued that an alleged violation of his conditions of release was unfounded.

    Last week, Children’s Court Judge Barbara Vigil ordered that Fred Mestas, 16, must return to juvenile detention because of the alleged violation in a juvenile case separate from his charges in connection with a killing.

    Mestas spent four days in jail after prosecutors on Nov. 14 brought before Vigil an allegation that he violated his interim order by shooting a man in the leg with a pellet gun.

    [/column]

  • Albuquerque Journal – Outstanding Criminal Attorneys

    Lawyers Feel Duty to Make System Work

    Albuquerque-JournalOutstanding criminal attorneys also enjoy challenge and rewards

    Byline: Daniel J. Chacon Journal Staff Writer, Albuquerque Journal North 04/22/2001 Page: 1

    No one is supposed to be listening to their conversation, but Dan Marlowe’s husky voice echoes like thunder through the wooden frame of his downtown office door.
    Marlowe, a criminal defense lawyer in Santa Fe who has been practicing law for nearly three decades, is talking strategy with his client a young Eldorado man accused of molesting two boys he coached in soccer. Marlowe, 54 and a father of two who coaches soccer himself, believes his client is innocent, and he’s on a mission to prove it. Countless other defendants have relied on Marlowe to do the same for them; and more often than not, they leave a courtroom feeling emancipated. Marlowe often wins, and he gets a kick and a smile out of doing it, too. But Marlowe also is a man of principle. “In my business, people are entitled to the benefit of the doubt immediately,” he said. “I believe in the presumption of innocence. The fact is, (criminal defense lawyers) are defending everything everyone in this country holds dear, and that’s the Constitution.”

    Convincing yourself

    In a world with no shortage of attorneys there are 40 pages of attorney listings in the local Yellow Pages. Santa Fe is home to at least four lawyers who have built reputations of excelling in the art and science of criminal defense. Marlowe, one of the city’s most respected and sought-after defense attorneys who focuses strictly on criminal law, with his thunderous voice resembles a preacher reciting the Bible to his devoted congregation when he stands in front of a jury. He’s not alone.

    In the courtroom, attorney Stephen Aarons, 46, tries to break down barriers and transform himself into a juror’s best friend. Recently, Aarons represented a Santa Fe woman whom police arrested on allegations that she killed her infant and then tried to hide the crime by sticking her baby’s decaying body in a bloodied toilet. Aarons argued the baby was born dead, and jurors acquitted the woman of first-degree murder.
    If the practice of criminal defense was compared to boxing, Aarons would be the Mike Tyson of attorneys. Still, Aarons is soft-spoken and sympathetic. He is a husband and father who plays with his 5-year-old son, Ian, in their central Santa Fe townhouse on his days off. “You can’t be living in an ivory tower and be able to connect with jurors,” said Aarons, who drives a white, four-door Saturn with more than 100,000 miles on the odometer. “I think you gotta start out by convincing yourself,” he said. “Then, ‘How can I really show that to a jury?’ If we don’t pass the common-sense test, then we’re not going to succeed.”

    Doug Couleur, 43, is much more forceful with a jury even with a judge. He’s the type of lawyer who doesn’t waste time.
    Don’t ask Couleur, a physically fit Chicago native who started out in Santa Fe as a prosecutor in the District Attorney’s Office under the leadership of Chet Walter, for a wordy, colorful analogy that relates to his work. He won’t provide one. His comments are brief and to the point. “I like being the underdog, the black sheep,” said Couleur, whose clientele includes a large pool of people from rural northern New Mexico and police officers accused of wrongdoing. “Of course, there are no guarantees in this business, for either side.” Couleur, who also practices in federal court, said he represents a broad range of people. One of Couleur’s latest clients is a 29-year-old Capshaw Middle School teacher charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor after one of her teen-age students was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving without a driver’s license. According to police she rode as his lone passenger late at night in her car. Couleur said the first cases he tried as a prosecutor taught him the responsibilities of a defense attorney. “As a prosecutor, you have an awesome power, and you need to exercise it with restraint and discretion, with the ultimate overriding philosophy that a prosecutor’s role is to seek justice, not to seek convictions,” he said.

    Val Whitley, a Spanish-speaking 47-year-old graduate of the University of New Mexico’s Law School, tried to start off his law career in 1989 locking up the type of clients he now defends. “(Then-District Attorney) Chet Walter wouldn’t hire me,” Whitley said. The Public Defender’s Office quickly hired Whitley, and then he went into private practice five years ago.
    The youngest among the four big-gun defense attorneys, Whitley might appear to be the most friendly and compassionate and the one you least want to cross. He is a vocal critic of the District Attorney’s Office, the treatment of inmates by Cornell Companies at the Santa Fe County Detention Center and reporters with poisonous pens.
    Whitley is passionate about his beliefs, and defending the accused is his strongest conviction.

    “Most of the people I deal with are ordinary people who get into a little bit of trouble,” Whitley said. Criminal defense lawyers “seem to catch the wrath of a lot of people. (But) I think people look to us for their last line of help.” Marlowe, whose father, Benjamin Fazio Marlowe, was a well-known criminal defense lawyer in Oakland, Calif., agrees. “A lot of people hire you to do the worrying for them,” Marlowe said. “They’re just people that are getting accused of crimes. Sometimes they’re guilty; sometimes they’re not. People who are charged with crimes, there’s a lot of them out there who are innocent.” And they pay the price emotionally and financially to prove it.

    Foot soldiers

    While none of the four attorneys interviewed would discuss their fees specifically, all of them said their services are worth the cost. Their fees are not set in stone either, they said. All four do pro bono work under contract with the Public Defender’s Office. Some of them, like Aarons, said they charge a flat fee in the neighborhood of $5,000. Marlowe said a defendant charged with first-degree murder might have to spend up to $65,000 if the case goes to trial (find cases at https://smithjonessolicitors.co.uk/road-traffic-accidents/motorcycle-accident-claims/).

    Marlowe, Aarons, Couleur and Whitley said they aren’t in the business of representing alleged criminals to get rich. Most of my clients are unable to afford an attorney,” Aarons said. “I’m not doing this for the money. If I were, I’d be an estate lawyer. I don’t really focus on the business of law.” None of them do.

    Being a lawyer is exciting and rewarding. It’s a challenge. Not only that, they like to argue. And they like to win. They also like helping people. But most of all, they believe they have a duty to make sure the criminal justice system works. “The stakes are high,” Couleur said. “Somebody’s liberty is at stake. I can never put it out of my mind that this person’s liberty is at stake.” While their work can be overwhelming at times, each of the four attorneys said they have learned to cope with the stress, whether it be through family or exercise.
    “I’ve seen the gamut of humanity, a broader gamut than you would see in most work places,” Aarons said. “The way I deal with it is I recognize that all I really am is a foot soldier,” he added. “I trust God in a lot of this stuff. He put me into this job. I’m just this foot soldier doing my best.”

    PHOTO: JOURNAL FILE
    PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE: Defense attorney Dan Marlowe, shown here with client Steve Ulibarri in 1999, says he is a strong believer in the presumption of innocence. Ulibarri made an Alford plea meaning there was no admission of guilt in 1999 to involuntary manslaughter in a fatal shooting.
    BREAKS DOWN BARRIERS: Defense attorney Stephen Aarons believes to make a successful argument he must first convince himself then figure out how to convince a jury. His client shown in this 1997 photo, Arthur “Bozo” Lopez, right, was convicted of murder in the stabbing death of a teacher.
    RELISHES BEING UNDERDOG: Defense attorney Douglas Couleur likes the role of the underdog. He’s shown here in 1999 with client Dolores Vigil, a former Espanola municipal judge who pleaded no contest to tampering with public records.
    PHOTO: JOURNAL FILE
    BEGAN AS PUBLIC DEFENDER: Defense attorney Val Whitley, shown here with client Manuela Arreola, wanted to begin his career as a prosecutor but instead took a job with the local Public Defender’s Office.

    Albuquerque Journal, 22 April 2001, page 1
    Copyright Albuquerque Journal. Reprinted with permission.

  • Defendant in Cabin Killings goes Free

    State will not retry Shaun Wilkins, charged as the triggerman in four gruesome Torreon murders

    By Joline Gutierrez Krueger JGLENN@ABQTRIB.COM

    Five years have passed since Shaun Wilkins was led away in handcuffs and charged as the triggerman in the Torreon cabin killings, one of the most horrifying multiple murders in recent New Mexico history. Most of those years sputtered on mercilessly behind bars. All of them were shattered by the increasing dread that his Wilkins name would forever be stained with the blood of the four victims: a fellow gang member and his girlfriend, both shot to death. and her two little boys left to crawl among the bodies until they. too, died, but of starvation, locked alone in a remote cabin high in the Manzano Mountains. On Friday, Wilkins’ name was cleared. District Attorney Clint Wellborn announced that he would not retry Wilkins for the killings, making him the second of four former defendants this year to walk free from the threat of retrial. …

    page A-2

    Relying simply on Popeleski’s testimony, which had once been considered key in the cases against the other three defendants, would be imprudent, Wellborn said, because at jury at his September 1999 trial in Estancia found his testimony unreliable enough to find him guilty of second-degree murder for the deaths of the two boys.

    “If we went to trial against Mr. Wilkins we would be asking a jury to now believe those same statements that the state had previously shown as unreliable,” Wellborn said.

    Wellborn also said that is was possible that Wilkins was in City’County Jail at the time prosecutors said he shot and killed Anaya and Sedillo.

    Prosecutors had pushed hard for the death penalty in Wilkins’ case, saying he was the brains and the triggerman in the killings.

    But after 20 days of testimony, nine jurors voted for conviction and three for acquittal. Jurors interviewed afterward said the state had relied too heavily on the horror and gruesomeness of the case and not enough on physical evidence that would have placed Wilkins at the scene of the killings. They also said they did not believe the testimony of the other gang members, who they believed were lying to save themselves.

    They believed Wilkins’ attorney Steve Aarons who had argued that there was no fingerprint, fiber or DNA at the cabin to indicate that his client had ever been to the Torreon cabin.

    Defense attorneys argued that it was Popeleski who acted alone, angered that Anaya lured h im to a party where he was “ranked out” of the 18th Street gang because they believed he was a police informant.

    And Aarons had pointed a finger at Albuquerque police gang unit Detective Juan DeReyes for coercing the other defendants into naming Wilkins as the killer. DeReyes, he said, had made it a personal mission to get Wilkins because he believed Wilkins was responsible for a drive-by shooting that damaged DeReyes’ car, which was parked outside his Westgate home.

    DeReyes is no longer a member of the Albuquerque Police Department, police spokeswoman Officer Beth Baland said. DeReyes could not be located for comment.

    Wilkins spent four of the last five years in the Penitentiary of New Mexico, often in solitary confinement, as he awaited his trial and then his retrial.

    Wilkins was finally released last year on his 23rd birthday after posting bond on $85,000 bail. Still, he wondered whether he would ever be completely free. “It was like, am I ever going to have a life again?” Wilkins said.

    On Friday, he got his answer.

    Wilkins, who had been know by his gang name “Sagger” for the type of pants he wore, said he has since severed the gang tied he had clung to since age 15. He spends h is days simply, working construction or assembly line jobs, playing video games, looking into enrolling in a computer programming course and preparing to get married.

    On Friday night, friends and family were expected to celebrate with a barbecue in his honor, he said. But he said h e knows the families of the victims might not be celebrating the dismissal of his charges.

    “I hope that they do have rest,” Wilkins said. “I didn’t do this. I hope they find the right people. That’s all I can tell them.”

     

  • Wilkins Set Free

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    Wilkins Set Free

    Publication: Albuquerque Journal
    Date: 03/03/2001 Page: A1
    Headline: Last Defendant Goes Free
    Byline: Guillermo Contreras And Lloyd Jojola Journal Staff Writers
    TORREON CABIN KILLINGS
    Charges Dropped in Deaths of Boys, Couple

    Charges were dismissed Friday against the last of the four defendants charged in the deaths of a couple and two children at a remote cabin near Torreon in 1995.
    At a news conference Friday at the Albuquerque office of one of his attorneys, Shaun Wilkins, 23, expressed relief that 7th Judicial District Attorney Clint Wellborn had decided to dismiss all charges against him, including four counts of first-degree murder.
    “I still don’t believe it,” Wilkins said. “I’m sitting here like ‘phew, it’s been a long time of my life.’ ”
    His sister said Wilkins’ family planned a barbecue to celebrate. Wilkins said he is now out of gangs and working.
    Wilkins was tried in 1997 in Socorro in connection with the killings of Cassandra Sedillo, 23, her sons, Johnny Ray, 4, and Matthew Garcia, 3, and Sedillo’s boyfriend, Ben Anaya Jr., 17. It resulted in a mistrial.
    Sedillo and Anaya had been shot in the head. The boys were left inside the locked cabin and died later of thirst and hunger, investigators said.
    Relatives of Sedillo and Anaya expressed outrage at the decision to dismiss Wilkins’ case.
    “I don’t agree with it,” said Porfie Sedillo, the mother of Cassandra Sedillo and the grandmother to her two sons. “They’ve victimized us since the whole thing happened. We’ve had to go through misery for the past five years.”
    Shortly after Sedillo received the news, she called and told Emily Archuleta, the mother of Ben Anaya Jr.
    Archuleta was shaken by the news.
    “It messed up my whole life and look now, they’re letting him go,” Archuleta said as she sobbed during a telephone conversation.
    District Attorney Wellborn did not return phone calls seeking comment Friday.
    Deputy District Attorney Mark Pickering, who filed the dismissal paperwork Friday afternoon, also did not return a phone call seeking comment.
    The dismissal cites insufficient evidence, a lack of reliable witness statements and interviews with jurors in Wilkins’ first trial who believed the state’s case was weak against Wilkins.
    The document said the case was based largely on the statements of two of Wilkins’ now former co-defendants, Lawrence “Woody” Nieto and Shawn “Popcorn” Popeleski. Both men were convicted in separate trials.
    The motion, signed by Pickering, noted that the courts did not allow prosecutors to use Nieto’s videotaped statement to police implicating Wilkins and Roy “Eazy” Buchner in the slayings.
    That, Pickering pointed out, is the most incriminating statement.
    The motion also said a statement taken from Popeleski lacks credibility because he was convicted of murders he denied being involved in. Popeleski was convicted of second-degree murder in the deaths of Sedillo’s two young boys but was acquitted in the killings of Sedillo and Anaya.
    “In addition, the statement is vague and full of major inconsistencies,” Pickering’s motion said.
    The motion also pointed out that there is no physical evidence linking Wilkins to the commission of the crimes, and that jurors who were interviewed after Wilkins’ first trial “indicated that the state’s case was very weak ”
    Former 7th Judicial District Attorney Ron Lopez said he was not surprised Wilkins’ case was dismissed in light of Wellborn’s decision in January to dismiss charges against then co-defendant Buchner.
    But Lopez said he believed winning the Wilkins case was probable because the state Supreme Court’s refusal in October to overturn the convictions of Nieto also resulted in Nieto’s inability to plead his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination.
    “I think it’s disappointing, especially given the fact that we had fought so hard over the last four years,” Lopez said in a telephone interview. “When Mr. Nieto’s conviction was affirmed by the Supreme Court, I think that gave us a much stronger case. At this point Mr. Nieto could not have used the 5th amendment as he had before.”
    Sedillo said she wanted to emphasize that the charges were dropped due to a lack of evidence and not because of a not guilty verdict.
    “It’s been hell,” Sedillo said. “People say you get over it, but you don’t get over it. It’s always with you. It’s there every day.”
    It wasn’t until late Friday afternoon that Sedillo said she received a call from a victim’s advocate from the District Attorney’s Office telling her of the decision.
    Wilkins and his attorneys, Stephen Aarons of Santa Fe and Kari Converse of Albuquerque, contended the prosecution was a personal vendetta by Juan DeReyes, a former gang detective with the Albuquerque Police Department. They also accused prosecutors under Lopez’s administration of withholding exculpatory evidence.
    They said DeReyes’ gang unit car was shot up by an Albuquerque gang and he assumed Wilkins was responsible. They said DeReyes took it personally, forcing Nieto and Popeleski to implicate Wilkins.
    “Woody and Popcorn’s statements changed what, eight times?” Wilkins said at the news conference.
    “In our society, intense pressure to solve horrible crimes sometimes leads to improper police work,” Aarons said. “We are seeing the results of that throughout the country as DNA evidence proves how many innocent people have been convicted of heinous crimes.”
    DeReyes and prosecutors under Lopez’s administration have denied that the case against Wilkins resulted from a personal vendetta. DeReyes could not be reached for comment Friday.
    Wilkins is scheduled for trial on charges of aggravated assault for an incident in December in which he allegedly attacked his father, Tim Jaquez, at his Albuquerque home.
    Attorney Converse said that should be taken care of soon. She did not elaborate.
    Archuleta said the long, drawn-out prosecution of the men charged in the cabin slayings took its toll on her.
    She was forced to leave her job after attending day after day of trial proceedings. She suffered from anxiety to the point that she was placed under the care of a doctor, she said.
    “How can you live with that, knowing that your son died,” she said.
    Both women criticized prosecutors for not keeping them informed about the case. Both felt the justice system let them down.
    “We can’t turn anywhere. The only place left to turn to is God, I guess,” Archuleta said. “He’s the only one who helps us.”
    Added Sedillo: “There is no justice in this world. But there is a higher power, and they will pay.”

    PHOTO: Color
    Shaun “Sagger” Wilkins, now 23, was accused of being the person who shot Cassandra Sedillo and Ben “Deuce” Anaya Jr. Jurors in Wilkins’ first trial in October 1997 deadlocked. On Friday, all charges against Wilkins were dismissed.

    PHOTO: Color
    Shawn “Popcorn” Popeleski, now 23, was convicted in September 1999 of two counts of second-degree murder for the deaths of Sedillo’s sons. He was acquitted of murder charges in the slayings of Anaya and Sedillo. Popeleski was sentenced last year to 16 1/2 years in prison.

    PHOTO: Color
    Lawrence “Woody” Nieto, now 23, was convicted by a Torrance County jury in 1997 of four counts of first-degree murder and other charges. He was sentenced to more than 130 years in prison. The state Supreme Court affirmed his conviction in October 2000.

    PHOTO: Color
    Roy “Eazy” Buchner, now 23, was accused of locking the cabin and sealing the fate of Sedillo’s two young boys, Johnny Ray and Matthew, who died of thirst and hunger. Jurors in Buchner’s first trial in 1997 deadlocked. In January, all charges against him were dismissed.

    PHOTOS: b/w
    The victims
    Ben “Deuce” Anaya Jr., 17, his girlfriend, Cassandra Sedillo, 23, and her sons, Johnny Ray Garcia, 4, and Matthew Garcia, 3, were found dead in April 1996 by Anaya’s father inside his cabin near Torreon, on the east face of the Manzano Mountains. Investigators later determined Anaya and Sedillo were shot to death in mid-December 1995 and the children died a few weeks later of thirst and hunger because they were locked inside the cabin without food or water.
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