67½-year term for 2 deadly beatings
Judge imposes maximum sentence in deaths of homeless
The judge who imposed the maximum possible sentence Friday on Alex Rios for the seconddegree murder of two men in 2014 said she was glad he had accepted responsibility in a brief apology he offered to the court and the families.
But 2nd Judicial District Judge Briana Zamora, as she imposed the sentence of 67½ years, added, “I still think you’re minimizing your actions.”
Rios, now 20, was charged as an adult and two others then under 18 were also charged in District Court with the bludgeoning deaths that shocked the community in their savagery. He acknowledged being present but claimed he didn’t participate in the beatings.
Three men who were passed out in a field behind a service station near Central and
Coors were attacked and robbed of identification and credit cards in 2014. One managed to escape; the two who didn’t were also stabbed with kitchen knives retrieved from one youth’s nearby home after the homeless men were beaten with posts, table legs and cinder blocks.
“I would like to apologize to the Alison Gorman and Kee Thompson families,” Rios told the court and the full rows of spectators behind him. “In my heart, I know I’m not guilty ... (but) I should have done a lot better than nothing at all.”
Rios was convicted at trial of second-degree murder, not first-degree as charged, on a theory that his attorney said was one of liability as an accessory.
Zamora, in brief remarks after victims’ families, Rios and lawyers spoke, said she was particularly bothered that the dead men were doing nothing to give offense, simply sleeping off a few too many drinks.
“I see tragedies every single day in this courtroom,” she said. But the crimes are often those that happen in seconds, she said. “What I don’t see is crime that took a lot of time.”
Rios’ lack of criminal history didn’t mitigate the severity of the crime, Zamora said, rejecting arguments by Rios’ attorney, Daniel Salazar, that the accessory theory — failing to call for help when he saw co-defendants Gilbert Tafoya and Nathaniel Carrillo flailing away at the victims — was a mitigating factor.
Rios was never an active participant in the murders, Salazar said, calling it “disturbing that the person who did the beating testified against the person who didn’t call (police or 911).”
“It was the first time in his life he’d confronted something like that. … His youth gives him an out, if you will, not a free pass,” Salazar said.
Salazar said after the sentencing that Rios will appeal.
Assistant District Attorney Vincent Martinez urged Zamora to sentence Rios as she did, reminding her that the jury also convicted him of tampering with evidence for hiding the blocks, posts and knives used in the attack, and for conspiracy to commit murder. He also was convicted of armed robbery and attempted armed robbery.
“The jury found unanimously that he was an accessory and did actively participate,” Martinez said.
Rios is the only one of the three who has gone to trial.
Gilbert Tafoya entered a guilty plea to second-degree murder in exchange for a maximum 20-year sentence and testifying against the other two at trial. Nathaniel Carrillo is set for trial in September.
Family members of Gorman and Thompson told the judge about the emotional strains on them from the deaths and asked for the maximum penalty.
Gorman’s brother said Gorman was a big man who was a steer wrestler at rodeos, a farmer, a help to his aging parents in Shiprock and to others, “always the first to lend a helping hand.” He was a good cook, a high school football player who took his team to the state playoffs, and a person who was always laughing and joking, he said.
Gorman came to Albuquerque looking for work, his brother said, and had given up a room so his friends would have a safe place to sleep.
He asked for the maximum sentence, even though, he said, the family knows “it will not bring anyone back.”