Deliberations to begin for widow of Air Force officer
Husband was shot after party at house
Jurors are to begin deliberations this morning in a murder trial for Amy Herrera, an Albuquerque woman accused of shooting her husband, an Air Force major, to death after an alcoholfueled party at the couple’s home.
After five days of testimony, the jury must now consider whether Herrera is guilty of second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter or nothing at all in connection with the 2012 death of Marc Herrera.
The two were hosting a party for Ecuadorian exchange students June 30, 2012, the night of Marc’s death. They disappeared into their room after Marc pulled a gun on one of the students and Amy intervened.
Minutes later, the Air Force pilot was lying dead in the master bedroom closet, and his wife was frantically telling the students and a 911 operator that Marc killed himself, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors argued that Amy pulled the trigger and that she wasn’t acting in self-defense. They reminded jurors how many times her story had changed.
“She tried to claim it was a suicide. She tried to claim it was an accident. She tried to claim that Marc Herrera is the one that pulled the trigger. She tried to say that Marc Herrera metaphorically pulled the trigger,” prosecutor David Waymire said. “And then when nothing else worked, she said, well, the cops have nothing on me, it’s going to be self-defense.”
She wasn’t afraid of her husband, prosecutors argued — she was tired of him and saw an opportunity.
Defense attorney Eric Hannum urged jurors not to let the state convict an innocent woman over variations in her story of the “horrifically traumatic moment.”
He said Marc Herrera followed his wife into the bedroom drunk, angry and armed with a loaded pistol at a time when sexual harassment allegations had just cost him a promotion at work.
“He wasn’t just coming in there to chat about marital problems or about whether or not she should have interrupted his interaction with the students,” Hannum said. “He was coming in there with the intent that somebody was going to die.”
Prosecutors have indicted Amy Herrera three times in connection with Marc’s death. Two earlier cases were dismissed.