Suspect in SF murder to stand trial in Mexico

Man is accused in 2009 shooting

SANTA FE — A man who is accused of a 2009 Santa Fe murder will be tried for the crime in Mexico, officials announced at a news conference Wednesday.

Jose Roberto Gonzalez Anchondo, 32, allegedly killed Vicente Anchondo, a relative, in Santa Fe in May 2009 and fled to Mexico. Gonzalez Anchondo was arrested in Mexico in April and will stand trial in Mexico City, Santa Fe District Attorney Marco Serna said Wednesday.

Vicente Anchondo’s family is also from Mexico and requested that the trial take place there, Serna said.

Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office Maj. Gabe Gonzales said Wednesday that Vicente Anchondo was found with a single gunshot wound to his neck in an apartment where the two men lived together off Airport Road. One witness told deputies that they heard the men arguing, Gonzales said.

The Mexican Constitution allows for defendants accused of committing crimes in the U.S. to be tried in Mexico. Gonzalez Anchondo faces up to 50 years in the Mexican prison system, state Attorney General spokesman James Hallinan said.

“This is a very rare circumstance, but it’s also beneficial to the community because the victim’s family was from Mexico, so it allowed them to go back home, which is what they desired to do, to have the trial in Mexico rather than having to come back to the United States,” Deputy Attorney General Clara Moran told the Journal on Wednesday.

Serna said his office helped Mexican prosecutors interview witnesses here and build their case. He added that the sheriff’s office continued surveillance on Gonzalez Anchondo’s mother as part of the investigation.

“Investigators in this case, throughout the years, just didn’t give up, and we’re not going to give up on any case that we have,” sheriff’s office Maj. Gonzales said at the news conference at the sheriff’s office headquarters.