Vehicular homicide case ends in suspended sentence

Attorneys debate prison versus court rehabilitation program

At a sentencing hearing on Tuesday (Feb. 21), Henry Samora, 33, was sentenced to a four-year, 10-month suspended sentence and a five-year probation period, ending a two-year-old vehicular homicide case.

According to court records, Samora was 30 years old when he lost control of his vehicle on Dec. 16, 2020, and fatally struck Delubino “Tuti” Casías while speeding down Paseo del Pueblo Sur. According to court records and witnesses, Samora attempted to flee the scene but was eventually detained by law enforcement.

One year after the event, Samora was released from confinement and placed under conditions that ensured surveillance and probational cooperation, including a GPS ankle monitor. On Nov. 29, 2022, Samora pleaded guilty to homicide by vehicle, a third-degree felony. The plea agreement stated Samora faced six years of exposure with debatable suspension.

The sentencing hearing began with District Attorney prosecutor Lucas Helper briefly going over details regarding the event data recorder, or “black box,” of Samora’s car. According to Helper, Samora had previously claimed that the gas pedal in his car would sometimes get stuck. Helper did not believe this, saying the data extracted from the black box of the vehicle suggests he was “essentially flooring the vehicle” and Samora didn’t hit the brakes until right before the collision. The box also revealed Samora was going 86 miles per hour.

Afterward, family members of the victim were allowed to speak, but only one took the stand. Carla Casías, the victim’s sister, called for the “maximum penance” for Samora, adding multiple times that the homicide was a deliberate act.

“What you did, what you don’t realize,” Carla said, “is you took a huge part of seven sisters’ and one brother’s heart. Delubino was a caring, loving brother who we saw on a daily basis. But because you decided to take his life, we cannot see him anymore. When I think of the way you took him from us, my heart hurts. I still have anger for you for hitting him. You broke him into pieces like he was a dog. Well, he wasn’t a dog; he was a human being who brought joy to many people.”

Another individual addressed the court on Casías’ behalf and read a statement prepared by Julia Struck, an acquaintance of the victim, in which she claims Samora was intoxicated during the event.

“He was a friend to a lot of people,” Struck’s statement said. “In fact, just an hour before you killed him, he was on his way home from delivering Christmas gifts to his favorite people at a local restaurant. Up until his passing, he remained a humble, giving, loving person enjoying the simplicity and innocence of riding his new bike, probably waving at friends, moments before you violently ran your car into his bike in a drunken haze.”

This claim prompted 8th Judicial District Judge Jeffrey Shannon to question the sobriety of Samora during the incident, to which Helper responded with a toxicology report, which showed a positive test for methamphetamine and benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine. However, this toxicology report was Casías’, not Samora’s. Regardless, Samora has a history of using meth and cocaine and has been in rehabilitation since the incident.

It is this rehabilitation that defense attorney Alan Maestas drew upon with his arguments, noting that Samora had been making strong efforts to get clean, attending the Taos Family Violence Treatment Court (TFVCT), receiving counseling and finding employment.

“If rehabilitation is the biggest reason for dealing with a human being who might be having problems, then the rehabilitation is already well underway,” Maestas said. “Sending him to the Department of Corrections will interfere with the progress he’s making. It will interfere with his ability to be with his family, who have kept him on the straight and narrow. It will interfere with his feeling that he’s accomplishing something by working and having a job he enjoys.”

According to Maestas, impeding Samora’s rehabilitation through incarceration would only mean his release back into the community would create additional harm. Maestas would rather have a former detainee released into the community after going through rehabilitation than one being released without receiving any rehabilitation. Maestas requested a sentence of six years and that Shannon “suspend every bit of it.”

Alison Van Hee addressed the court on behalf of the TFVTC and presented a character witness statement regarding Samora written by Sara Blankenhorn, the presiding judge over the treatment court. According to the letter,

Samora was to be the first graduate of the court and had completed several of its courses, including moral recognition therapy and intensive outpatient treatment for substance use disorder. He’s also on track to complete intervention training.

“He demonstrated consistency, reliability and steadfast prioritization of recovery,” the letter from Blankenhorn read. “His kind but reserved presence and dry sense of humor is always welcome in the courtroom. He and his mother will be missed by the team and other participants. His progress in recovery and taking personal responsibility for the actions that brought him into the court is a testament to the human capacity for change.”

According to the letter, Samora hardly missed sessions and always came back negative on urinary analysis tests. He also made efforts to remain employed. Once all arguments were made, Shannon began deliberating a sentence.

“The most dangerous thing most people will ever do in their lives is operate a motor vehicle,” Shannon said as he recalled a quote from former 8th Judicial District Judge John Paternoster. “Fifteen-hundred to 2,000 pounds of steel, glass, rubber, plastic hurtling down the road at speeds of 40, 50, 60, 70, even 80 miles-per-hour, and we tend to take motor vehicles for granted without reminding ourselves everyday how dangerous an exercise driving a motor vehicle is.”

After suspending Samora’s sentence, Shannon noted that he came to his conclusion largely due to the statement from Judge Blankenhorn. The sentencing was reduced to four years and 10 months because of 426 days of pre-sentence confinement credits Samora had already served.

For the next five years, Samora will be under supervised probation, during which he is required to complete his courses with TFVTC, continue overall rehabilitation and comply with the Adult Probation and Parole Office’s restitution and therapy requirements. Failing to follow these conditions will result in a revocation of the suspension and the four-year and 10-month incarceration will be enacted.

“Delubino Casías is dead, and Delubino Casías is dead because of you,” Shannon said to the defendant after sentencing him. “A life was taken by you, and his family is going to live with that loss, is going to live with the pain of Delubino’s absence for the rest of their lives.”