ROMERO GUILTY OF FIRST-DEGREE MURDER
Jury makes decision in Benner’s killing in 3 hours
Andrew Romero appears in 13th Judicial District Court in Valencia County on Friday where he was found guilty of first-degree murder and other crimes in the killing of Rio Rancho police officer Gregg Benner last year. Law enforcement officers react to the verdict.
LOS LUNAS — Andrew Romero was stoic as the guilty verdict was read, a conviction that guarantees he will spend the rest of his life behind bars for gunning down Rio Rancho police officer Gregg “Nigel” Benner.
New Mexico State Police officer Steve Montaño, one of the lead investigators in the case, buried his face in his hands and wept as he was consoled by a Rio Rancho police officer.
Julie Benner, the widow, was hugged by supporters, prosecutors and her late husband’s fellow officers.
A jury of nine women and three men on Friday found Romero guilty of first-degree murder of a police officer and other lesser offenses for shooting and killing Benner during a traffic stop on Memorial Day last year.
Thirteenth Judicial District Judge George Eichwald said a sentencing hearing would be held within two weeks, giving time for the officer’s friends and family to prepare to address the court. But that hearing will be a formality. The murder charge mandates that Romero be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole — the state’s harshest penalty since the death
penalty was repealed.
It took the jury just about three hours to decide Romero’s guilt or innocence. It was a relatively short amount of time to deliberate, given that the trial against Romero began Sept. 8, said Tom Clark, Romero’s attorney.
“It never bodes well for the defense,” Clark said of the length of time the jury deliberated.
The verdict will be automatically appealed to the New Mexico Supreme Court, he said.
Just moments before the jury entered to announce the verdict, corrections officers brought Romero into the courtroom, which was filled with police officers and Benner’s supporters.
Romero spent most of the trial sitting calmly, dressed in shirts and ties from a department store and taking notes. Before the verdict was read he fidgeted back and forth, rubbed his hands together and stared at the ceiling.
Emotional reaction
The verdict led to a quiet but emotional moment for Benner’s family and friends. Hugs were exchanged, tears were wiped away and many of them met privately before leaving the courthouse. Julie Benner didn’t speak with the Journal.
Friday began with closing arguments. Prosecutors painted Romero as a callous cop killer and Clark tried to discredit the police investigation.
Deputy District Attorney Barbara Romo walked jurors through the evidence that was presented at trial. DNA linked Romero to the gun that was used in the homicide and the vehicle Benner stopped before he was fatally shot.
Romo pointed fingers at Romero and told the jury he opened fire on Benner and then left him to die in the street. She talked about how nonchalant he sounded on a jailhouse phone call he made to his aunt, in which he chuckled at one point.
“You want to talk about callous, how’s that for callous,” she said.
His former girlfriend, Tabitha Littles, testified that she was driving Romero to a fast-food restaurant that night to commit a robbery to fuel drug habits. She said they had been in a meth-fueled, two-monthlong relationship during which they robbed about 10 fast food restaurants and used drugs daily.
Littles said Romero shot Benner after he pulled them over for having a questionable license plate near Southern and Pinetree in Rio Rancho.
Clark argued that the DNA doesn’t prove that Romero pulled the trigger and that Littles wasn’t a credible witness. He suggested that it was perhaps Littles, not Romero, who shot Benner. Or that another of Littles’ friends was in the car and shot the officer.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Ron Lopez compared the defense to a magic trick to try to get the jury to look away from facts rooted in common sense.
He closed the trial by pointing out that Benner was a military veteran who died on Memorial Day.
“It’s a holiday that we the United States have … to honor those who have died in service of our country. Gregg Benner served our country,” Lopez said as he showed the jury a picture of Benner serving in the military, and then replaced it with a picture of his dead and bloodied body.
“But his family will remember him on Memorial Day like this.”