Tai Chan back in jail in fatal shooting case
Ex-deputy faces charge of voluntary manslaughter
SANTA FE — Tai Chan, a former Santa Fe County sheriff’s deputy accused of fatally shooting a fellow deputy in Las Cruces after a night of drinking in 2014, is back in jail on the latest charge he faces, voluntary manslaughter.
Chan, 32, turned himself in at the Sandoval County jail in Bernalillo after about 11 p.m. Friday and is to be transferred to a lock-up in Doña Ana County. A judge will soon decide on a motion for pretrial detention filed Monday by the District Attorney’s Office. John Day, one of Chan’s lawyers, is seeking Chan’s release.
A new criminal complaint for volun-
tary manslaughter and an arrest warrant against Chan were filed Friday in Doña Ana County Magistrate Court by the Las Cruces police. Chan made a first court appearance on this charge via video Monday, according to Day.
The new charge is a fifth try at prosecuting Chan for the death of Jeremy Martin, 29, who was killed at Las Cruces’ Hotel Encanto. They were staying there on the way back from delivering a prisoner to Arizona.
Last month, District Court Judge Conrad Perea dismissed a prior voluntary manslaughter case against Chan brought by District Attorney Mark D’Antonio’s office because the office didn’t go to a grand jury or preliminary court hearing first or otherwise describe a case against Chan.
Before that, Chan was previously tried twice for murder. Both trials ended in a hung juries. Another effort at making a murder case against Chan was dropped when Perea ruled that Chan could not be prosecuted for murder yet again on double jeopardy grounds.
Monday’s pre-trial detention motion by the Doña Ana County DA’s Office argues that Chan should be held in jail because he admitted to shooting an unarmed Martin — Chan claimed self-defense — and the fact that Chan was intoxicated at the time of the shooting. Interviews with “personnel in Santa Fe” indicate that Chan “often drank to intoxication and became very belligerent and had to be removed from situations to avoid violence,” the motion states.
“Because this defendant drinks to intoxication, becomes belligerent and uses firearms, the public would not be safe if he is released,” the motion argues.
Day pointed out that his client has been out of custody for four years while fighting the charges and prosecutors “never had a problem” with that. He reiterated that he intends to seek sanctions against D’Antonio, calling the pre-trial detention motion “vindictive.”
The night Martin was killed, the two deputies argued and drank at a bar, and then returned to their hotel room. Martin died after being shot five times in the back and arm. Ten shots were fired from Chan’s duty weapon. Who shot the gun first and who was the aggressor were disputed at trial.