Judge declares mistrial in 2017 murder case
Man could be retried, faces charges in two more homicides
Jurors in a murder trial for Yoan Santiesteban were unable to reach a consensus, leading an Albuquerque judge to declare a mistrial Tuesday, according to court documents.
Santiesteban is accused in the deaths of three people over a 12-day period last summer. The first trial, which began June
19, dealt with the killing of 27-yearold Celina Arrellanes, who was shot as she sat in her boyfriend’s car in May 2017.
Santiesteban is also facing charges in the deaths of Samir Al-Abboudy, 44, who was found dead at the Days Inn on Menaul near Princeton on May 14, 2017, and Matthew Severinghaus, 25, who was killed outside his home in the Foothills on May 26, 2017.
Michael Patrick, a spokesman for the District Attorney’s Office, said Thursday that prosecutors will decide whether to retry Santiesteban in Arrellanes’ death at some point after his two pending trials. Prosecutors said Santiesteban forced his girlfriend, Gloria Chavez, to arrange a meeting between him and Arrellanes’ boyfriend. Santiesteban opened fire during that meeting, prosecutors said, hitting Arrellanes in the neck.
But Santiesteban’s attorney John McCall told jurors in his opening statement that Chavez had taken out a hit on Arrellanes and her boyfriend. McCall could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Dates for Santiesteban’s next two trials have not yet been set.