Jury acquits man of child abuse in boy’s shooting
Defendant said during the trial that he fired a shot toward an Española apartment complex in self-defense; second charge could lead to retrial
Aaron Archuleta took the stand in his own defense Thursday, telling jurors he had fired a shot toward an occupied Española apartment complex in 2016 — hitting an 8-year-old-boy — because a man who lived in the building was shooting at him and he feared for his life.
He didn’t know the child was there, Archuleta said, and if he had known, he never would have fired his gun.
After he testified, 29-year-old Archuleta and his family members joined hands in the hallway outside the courtroom, praying for not-guilty verdicts on the two charges he faced.
Nearly 11 hours later, his prayers were largely answered. The jurors delivered a split verdict in his favor, acquitting him of the most serious charge — child abuse resulting in great bodily harm, which carries a possible penalty of 18 years in prison — and declaring themselves “deadlocked pretty severely” on the second charge, shooting at an occupied dwelling, which could have led to a nineyear sentence.
“I’d like to thank God the truth came out,” Archuleta said after the verdict was read not long before midnight.
Prosecutors have 10 days to decide if they’ll retry Archuleta on the lesser count.
Deputy District Attorney Michael Nuñez, who represented the state in the case, said he needs to consult with District Attorney Marco Serna before deciding whether to proceed, but that he most likely will try again to convict Archuleta on the shooting charge.
The incident in which Archuleta was charged occurred Nov. 1, 2016, following a fight between two women — one of them Archuleta’s girlfriend — as well as their sisters and mothers.
Archuleta told jurors that he had waited in his car in the parking lot of the apartment complex the entire time the women were quarreling.
The feuding parties were distant relatives, Archuleta said, and such battles were commonplace among the cousins.
“With this family, something like this [happens] on a regular basis,” he said. “They get in a fight one day; tomorrow they’re talking about it like it’s a joke.”
He was parked the wrong way to view the altercation, Archuleta said, and he didn’t even bother to turn around so he could watch.
After the fight ended and his girlfriend, her sister and their mother were all back in his car, Archuleta said, a man approached his vehicle with a hand outstretched.
He intended to shake Dennis Garcia’s hand, Archuleta said. But before he could do that, one of the women in the group ran and got a shotgun and thrust it in Garcia’s hands, urging the man to “shoot him, shoot him.”
Garcia started firing, Archuleta said, so he began to drive out of the complex; moments later, however, he stopped his white Lincoln Navigator, got out and fired back. He squeezed off five shots, he said, one of which went through the shoulder of an 8-year-old boy, the son of a woman involved in the dispute.
Archuleta said he had stopped
the vehicle because it was emerging into an open area after having been shielded by other cars and a dumpster; he feared one of Garcia’s bullets would strike him or one of his passengers.
Witnesses for the state, who were related to the young victim, told a much different story, swearing under oath that no one besides Archuleta had fired any weapons.
Archuleta’s defense attorney, Sheri Raphaelson, impeached their credibility in front of the jurors, drawing out under questioning that they initially had lied to police, saying Garcia wasn’t at the residence that night.
They admitted at trial that Garcia had been at the house but said he hadn’t fired any shots. One woman who testified in the case said she’d lied to police to protect Garcia because he had an outstanding warrant for his arrest.
Physical evidence in the case — or the lack thereof — seemed to support that claim, as no casings were found at the scene, save the ones ejected from Archuleta’s gun.
The defense called as witnesses two neighbors who said they had heard shots fired from two distinct guns that the night.
Jurors struggled to make sense of the conflicting testimony and evidence. After receiving the case around 2 p.m. Thursday, they still hadn’t reached a unanimous decision on either count by 6:30 p.m. Thursday and advised District Judge T. Glenn Ellington they might be deadlocked.
They continued to deliberate for about five more hours, however, before delivering their verdict a little after 11:30 p.m.
Archuleta and his family prayed together again after hearing the verdict, this time in the elevator on the way out of the building.