Driver receives probation in shooting death
Woman pleads guilty for role in Española High grad’s killing; victim’s family, friends dismayed by sentence
Family and friends of 18-yearold Cameron Martinez of Alcalde — a popular Española Valley High School graduate killed in October 2018 in a shooting authorities have described as a case of mistaken identity — expressed disappointment Wednesday when the final defendant accused in the teen’s death was sentenced to 7½ years of probation.
Brittany Garcia, 24, was one of seven defendants in the case and one of four charged with first-degree murder; though, she wasn’t accused of firing shots at a vehicle carrying Martinez and several friends, three of whom were wounded. Instead, police and prosecutors said she was driving one of two cars used in the attack. She also faced a charge of tampering with evidence and multiple counts of conspiracy.
In state District Judge Maria Sanchez-Gagne’s courtroom Wednesday, Garcia pleaded guilty to two counts of tampering with evidence and two counts of conspiracy to commit tampering in a deal that allowed her to avoid prison time.
Garcia has spent three years, one month and 22 days incarcerated — both in jail and on house arrest with electronic monitoring at her home in Ojo Caliente. This time will be subtracted from her probation period.
She showed up late for Wednesday’s hearing after going to the wrong courthouse, forcing Martinez’s loved ones and other shooting victims to wait more than an hour in a Santa Fe courthouse for her arrival.
“She showed up to the courthouse in Tierra Amarilla,” said Chief Deputy District Attorney Blake Nichols, who represented the victims.
Defense attorney Lisa Torraco said a change in venue likely contributed to Garcia’s confusion about where to show up for the plea hearing.
“I think the whole family feels that Brittany was as much to blame as [lead defendant Mark] Hice was, because she drove the car,” said Rosalind Martinez, Cameron Martinez’s grandmother, as she and about 20 others waited outside the courtroom for Garcia to arrive.
Martinez was killed Oct. 4, 2018, on N.M. 68 north of Española, near
the Ohkay Hotel Casino.
Hice, convicted in August of 13 counts, including first-degree murder, was accused of arming a group of young people, some of them teenagers, because he feared a man intended to kill him. The group set out in two cars to find Hice’s enemy — but Hice, Axel Zamarron and Anton Martinez mistakenly opened fire on Cameron Martinez and his friends. Anton Martinez took a plea deal calling for him to spend between seven and eight years in prison, while Sanchez-Gagne sentenced Hice and Zamarron in October. Hice, 25, received life in prison plus 43½ years. Zamarron, 20, who was 17 at the time of the crime and pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, was sentenced to 20 years, the maximum.
Monica Cordova, Rudy Trujillo and Angelyssa Montoya, who were traveling with Cameron Martinez that night, were each struck with one bullet and survived the shooting.
“We can live that night over and over again, and it still feels like it just happened yesterday,” said Trujillo, 23. “No amount of legal justice can ever satisfy us for what they’re giving these guys here in this courtroom.”
Cameron Martinez’s mother, Valerie Martinez, said she was too upset to comment. But many of those representing the victims expressed dismay and disillusion at the light sentence Garcia received.
“I was hoping for her to get some jail time,” said Irene Romero, Montoya’s grandmother. “She’s just as guilty as all the rest.”