Co-conspirator in 2011 pickax killings sentenced
Woman receives 20-year prison term, but will serve much less time after making plea bargain
Ashley Roybal, a coconspirator in the grisly pickax murders of three members of an El Rancho family in 2011, will spend no more than 10½ years in prison for her role in the crime.
Under terms of a bargain with prosecutors, Roybal, 31, was sentenced Thursday to more than 20 years, but she will serve much less time.
State District Judge Francis J. Mathew of Santa Fe accepted a plea deal that suspended six years of Roybal’s sentence.
She also received credit for about 3½ years she has already spent in the county jail. That leaves 10½ years to be spent in the state penitentiary, a term that could be cut in half if she receives good time credit for following prison rules.
Roybal and her cousin, Jose Roybal, were key witnesses in the state’s case against Nicholas Ortiz.
A jury in late 2016 convicted Ortiz of murdering Lloyd Ortiz, 55, and Dixie Ortiz, 43, and their disabled son, Steven Ortiz, 21, during a botched burglary attempt.
The conviction seemed to bring closure to a case that had haunted the small community west of Pojoaque through years of futile investigative efforts until police
zeroed in on Ortiz.
However, Mathew later granted Nicholas Ortiz’s request for a new trial. His attorney had argued that a number of “fundamental errors” occurred in the case, including confusion over jury instructions.
Prosecutors appealed Mathew’s ruling and the state Supreme Court will decide whether he will receive another trial, which would be his third. The first ended in a mistrial with a hung jury.
Nicholas Ortiz, 16 at the time of the murders and 23 today, is not related to his victims but was a frequent guest in their home.
The bodies of the Ortiz family were found in their home on Father’s Day 2011.
Police didn’t arrest Nicholas Ortiz until 2015, after Ashley Roybal, a defendant in several burglary cases, told authorities that she had been involved in planning the crime, which she said was only supposed to be a burglary. Ashley and Jose Roybal testified in the first two trials against Ortiz.
Both cousins pinned the murders on Ortiz, but their stories differed. Ashley Roybal said the crime was a burglary that escalated to the killings by Nicholas Ortiz.
However, Jose Roybal testified that Ashley Roybal had suggested the teens kill the Ortiz family, and supplied the murder weapon.
Jose Roybal, who was 15 at the time and was never prosecuted, said he agreed to the plan, but changed his mind after Ashley Roybal dropped off the teens near the Ortiz residence.
Jose Roybal said he ran home, leaving Nicholas Ortiz to allegedly commit the slayings alone.
Ashley Roybal’s plea settles several cases against her.
These included burglaries and probation violations, as well as her role in the killings in which she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary and tampering with evidence. Ashley Roybal told police she disposed of clothes after the slayings.