Man convicted of shooting at police officers faces 18 years in prison

‘Overwhelming’ testimony offered

A Sandoval County jury deliberated for about an hour before convicting a Rio Rancho man on charges related to a February police chase in which he or other passengers in his car fired upon Rio Rancho police officers while reaching speeds of up to 100 mph.

Chinh Huynh, 21, could face up to 18 years in prison after being convicted Wednesday on charges including aggravated assault on a peace officer, aggravated fleeing and firing a weapon from a motor vehicle. In the trial that began this week, officers accused him of being the shooter, and said he put numerous police officer and public lives at risk.

Huynh and two other passengers led police on the chase down U.S. 550 and N.M. 4 to Jemez Springs. Police said he tried to shoot his 9 mm handgun at officers, but it jammed. Officers returned fire, striking him in the shoulder, and he was booked on being released from the hospital.

“If it hadn’t been jammed or misfired, we might have had worse charges and maybe injuries to our law enforcement officers,” Thirteenth Judicial District Attorney Lemuel Martinez said Thursday. “So I’m glad none of them was injured in this.”

On Feb. 9, Huynh, Patrick Moran, 30, and Patricia Baca, 30, tried to rob a man at an ATM in Rio Rancho around 10 a.m., police said. Police arrived and the chase began. Police said at the time that someone in the vehicle fired on officers before jumping out of the vehicle.

The other passengers have yet to go to trial.

Huynh’s attorney said he tried to instill reasonable doubt in jurors’ minds that his client was not the shooter, but seven officers testified that they believed Huynh was the gunman. He also said Huynh claimed he urged Moran and Baca, the driver, to stop and that he was an unwilling passenger throughout the robbery and chase.

“But obviously the testimony was pretty overwhelming the other way,” said Arthur Hernandez, Huynh’s attorney. “I just argued it was reasonable doubt.”

Hernandez also had high praise for the Rio Rancho officers and their supervisor during the chase, saying then-Lt. Jason Bowie, now a captain, was very professional in handling the chase. He said officers rendered Huynh first aid and got him to the hospital after shooting him, which “very well could have saved his life,” he said.

Huynh was convicted on three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon against a peace officer, one count of assault with intent to commit a violent felony, one count of aggravated fleeing of a law enforcement officer, shooting at or from a motor vehicle and conspiracy to commit armed robbery.

State District Judge George Eichwald tossed out seven counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon against a peace officer, Hernandez and Martinez said, because the judge said the gunfire did not actually threaten the officers at the tail end of the police chase. That knocked an additional 21 years off Huynh’s potential sentence.

Huynh has been jailed since the February arrest and he should be sentenced in a couple of months, Hernandez said.