By Edmund Carrillo / Journal Staff Writer | © Albuquerque Journal 2018 | reprinted with permission
SANTA FE — A murder charge is going to be dropped against a Santa Fe teen Tuesday, according to the boy’s defense attorney. Santa Fe lawyer Steve Aarons said in a press release Tuesday morning that charges of murder and tampering with evidence will be dismissed against 17-year-old Zachary Gutierrez.
Aarons said he provided video that proves Gutierrez was an innocent bystander and not the shooter in 64-year-old Richard Milan’s death on Airport Road on Sept. 26. “I was very happy to tell Zach and his family this morning that they are dropping the murder case against him,” Aarons wrote.
Santa Fe Police Department reports say Milan, of Kalamazoo, Mich. – who was on a cross-country trip and visiting relatives in Santa Fe – was walking his dog along Airport Road when he encountered a group of young people at the intersection of Lucia Lane.Surveillance video from a nearby business captures Milan going down from two gunshot wounds to his lower body. He later died from blood loss at the hospital.
Aarons provided an email that he received from Santa Fe prosecutor Heather Smallwood Tuesday morning that said, “I wanted to give you a heads up that I am filing a dismissal in this case today.” No one from the Santa Fe District Attorney’s Office could immediately be reached.
SFPD spokesman Greg Gurule said early Tuesday afternoon that the department was not aware of the District Attorney’s decision to dismiss the case.“The case remains under investigation there have been no additional arrests,” Gurule said in an email. “No suspects on the loose.”
