Witness to juror: Shooting in hotel hallway deliberate

LAS CRUCES — A crimescene expert testified Wednesday on the evidence of a struggle and the sequence of 10 ensuing gunshots on the night that former Santa Fe County Deputy Tai Chan killed fellow Deputy Jeremy Martin at a Las Cruces hotel.

Jurors in the eighth day of Chan’s retrial on a first-degree murder charge also heard an audio recording of statements by Chan in the hours after the shooting while in police custody.

Chan, 30, is accused of gunning down Martin, 29, shortly after midnight on Oct. 28, 2014, during an alcohol-fueled argument. Chan’s attorneys contend the shooting was in self-defense. A deadlocked jury in Chan’s first trial forced a mistrial last year.

Joseph Alan Foster, a crimescene reconstruction expert testifying for the prosecution, shared with jurors his assessment of the scene in and around Room 711 at the Hotel Encanto, which the deputies were sharing while returning from a trip to transport a prisoner to Arizona.

Foster said he believes that prior to the shooting, Chan was involved in a struggle in a space between his bed and a bathroom wall, based on the presence of Chan’s dropped cellphone, his bag and some of his blood on the sheets. Martin, meanwhile, was in the same space but closer to the foot of the bed, which was slightly askew when investigators found it.

“The physical characteristics here are as if a battery is taking place — a blood-letting event,” Foster said.

Previously, jurors were shown photographs that indicated Chan had a bloody nose and one of Martin’s hands was swollen.

During the struggle, a gun — Chan’s duty weapon — discharged for the first time, lodging a bullet in the ceiling near the bathroom, Foster said. The shot came from a height of three to six feet above the floor, but who fired it is difficult to say, Foster testified. It may have come from “one or both parties” in a struggle for control of the weapon.

Foster said the pattern of Chan’s blood on the bedding likely stemmed from his face coming into direct contact with it. When questioned by defense attorney Tom Clark, Foster said Chan could have been in various positions, though the gun, when it first fired, would have had to line up along a certain trajectory to match the bullet strike in the ceiling.

After the first shot, Chan “repositioned” himself several times as Martin fled, Foster said. From the spot near the bed, Chan moved to a small area near the room’s entrance. One of two rounds that hit Martin — out of a total of five that struck Martin that night — might have hit Martin while he was still inside the room, Foster said.

Chan then moved into the hotel’s hallway, firing toward a bank of elevators about 30 yards from Room 711, Foster said.

A juror posed a question to Foster via presiding state District Judge Fernando Macias. The juror asked whether those shots by Chan were “deliberate.”

“Yes, absolutely,” Foster responded.

An expert witness for the defense, psychologist Philip Trompetter, testified Tuesday that he believes Chan perceived a deadly threat before shooting Martin.

An audio file dubbed the “Cosper” recording, was played in full for jurors Wednesday. Las Cruces police Officer Jared Cosper made the recording soon after Chan was detained at the hotel. In the audio, an erratic sounding Chan shouts to officers, sometimes using expletives, that there is a bomb on the third flood of the hotel, which turned out not to be true. “I’m telling you, it’s a big threat,” he said to nearby officers. “Please, call it in.”

Chan also says at one point that he had been “shot at” and, “He tried to kill me. He tried to kill me. He tried to kill me.”

Chan also tries to persuade officers to call his family in Santa Fe, saying he is worried about them. Chan also said: “You know I did what was right. I did what was right. … I did what was [expletive] necessary.”

Cosper testified Wednesday that Chan seemed scared, smelled of alcohol and had slightly slurred speech, but navigated seven flights of stairs in Hotel Encanto without problems.

The trial is scheduled to resume Thursday.