New DA tries to make case in 4-year-old Alcalde killing
During preliminary hearing, officials struggle to recall details
More than four years after an Alcalde woman fatally shot a man in her bedroom, witnesses who testified Wednesday at a hearing on whether she should be charged with first-degree murder had difficulty recalling specific details of the scene, the investigation and the sequence of events.
The testimony was part of efforts by prosecutors with the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office to convince a judge that there is probable cause to bring the long-dormant case to trial.
In November 2012, Kaiwee Martinez, 38, told Rio Arriba County Sheriff ’s Office deputies that Lawrence Sandoval, a 33-year-old man she had encountered at nearby casinos the night before, entered her Alcalde mobile home without permission and then menaced her with a knife he had taken from her kitchen counter, ignoring her repeated pleas that he leave.
Sandoval followed her into her bedroom, Martinez told deputies, and pushed her back onto the bed and raised the blade. Fearing he would rape or kill her, she fired a single shot from a handgun she kept under her pillow, then called 911, Martinez told investigators.
In January 2013, sheriff ’s deputies arrested Martinez on an open count of murder. She was released the next day when then-District Attorney Angela “Spence” Pacheco dismissed the charges without prejudice, saying that the case needed more information but without elaborating on her reasons, according to a report at the time in the Albuquerque Journal.
The murder case was reopened in October by then-District Attorney Jennifer Padgett, who was appointed after Pacheco stepped down in late 2015. Marco Serna won election as district attorney in November and began working with Padgett before he took office in January.
Asked why the case had been reopened when it was, Assistant District Attorney Erik Scramlin said Wednesday, “I don’t know about that; you’d have to talk to Mr. Serna,” adding he had only been with the office a month. “Looking at the evidence, [Serna] believes and we believe there’s probable cause that this crime was committed.”
A message left for Serna after business hours Wednesday was not returned.
Assistant district attorneys Wednesday called current and former members of the Rio Arriba County Sheriff ’s Office and Santa Fe Police Department who responded to the shooting or were otherwise involved in the investigation, most of whom relied on years-old reports to provide specific answers in court.
Also called was Martinez’s cousin, Tim Romero, who spent time with her at the Santa Claran Hotel Casino the night before the shooting. He also recalled only broad strokes.
Abraham Baca, a former sergeant with the sheriff ’s office, and Adam Gutierrez, a senior patrol officer, testified that casino surveillance video provided evidence that was contradictory to what Martinez had told them in an interview about the events leading up to the Nov. 3, 2012, shooting.
In the interview, which was played in court Wednesday, Martinez can be heard telling Baca and Gutierrez that she is gay and that she had rebuffed Sandoval’s advances at both the Santa Claran casino and the Ohkay Hotel Casino the night before.
But surveillance video, both witnesses testified, shows Martinez and Sandoval acting flirtatiously and leaving together. Baca said he could not remember which casino provided the video he watched.
Video from the Ohkay casino was not shown in state District Judge Jennifer Attrep’s courtroom Wednesday. Scramlin said it would be shown Thursday. Video from the Santa Claran Casino had not been entered into evidence.
Martinez, in the interview, recalled the run-ins at casinos as uncomfortable and said she tried to laugh off Sandoval’s behavior.
She said she went home alone and later that night heard knocking at her door but didn’t answer. The next day, Martinez told the deputies, Sandoval appeared at her door and entered despite her protests.
He picked up a switchblade knife in the kitchen, at which point Martinez said she ran into the bedroom, she told interviewers, and that Sandoval followed. He pushed her backward onto the bed and began waving the knife in her face, according to her statement. He ripped her shirt and leaned over her, she said, flicking the knife open and shut.
Martinez then reached for the handgun she kept under her pillow, she told deputies.
“I will shoot you, I will shoot you, it’s loaded,” she told Sandoval, according to her statement, sounding tearful in the audio recording. “He kept waving the knife, and he said, ‘You’re not gonna do anything, you’re not gonna shoot me.’ He put the knife by my face, and when his hand went back, the gun went off; I shot him.”
As investigators’ images of the crime scene and gruesome photographs of Sandoval’s body were shown on the court video screens, Martinez grimaced and averted her eyes, fidgeting with a ring on her left hand.
The Journal report from 2013 cited conflicting aspects between what Martinez told investigators and a search warrant affidavit, which stated the bullet entered through the back of Sandoval’s head. Martinez said Sandoval was on top of her when she grabbed the gun from beneath her pillow and fired.
Where the bullet struck Sandoval was mentioned only briefly toward the end of Wednesday’s proceedings. The hearing is scheduled to resume Thursday.
Contact Tripp Stelnicki at 505428-7626 or tstelnicki@sfnewmexican.com.