Shooting suspect says he acted in self-defense
Victim says joke about being a police officer spurred shooting
Testifying in his own defense, Caleb Calandro told a Santa Fe jury on Wednesday that he feared for his life when he shot an acquaintance several times during a tense confrontation as they rode in the back of a van.
Calandro, 35, and the victim, Samuel Dillon, gave differing accounts of what happened during testimony in Calandro’s trial on three counts of aggravated battery and one count of aggravated assault.
The defendant, who is scheduled to undergo cross-examination by prosecutors when the trial resumes Thursday, told the District Court jury that he was being assaulted by Dillon when he fired his handgun.
Judge T. Glenn Ellington, outside the presence of the jury, denied a prosecution motion to introduce evidence of a separate shooting in which Calandro is accused of killing a man in a downtown parking lot on the same day as the van shooting, Dec. 17, 2016. The judge said that under rules of evidence it could cause “undue prejudice to the accused.”
Calandro is scheduled to stand trial on a first-degree murder charge in that case in November.
Dressed in a suit and tie, Calandro testified Wednesday that he, Dillon and two other acquaintances sometimes met up in Santa Fe and rode around drinking and smoking marijuana. Calandro said the foursome was heading for a store to get groceries when an argument broke out. Calandro said Dillon and another passenger became aggressive and wanted to drive Calandro to a construction site where he had previously worked in Santa Cruz “to rob or at least case the place.”
Calandro also said Dillon told him he was police officer, although Dillon testified earlier that another passenger had made joke about Dillon being a cop.
Calandro said both men knew that the other carried sidearms.
However, Dillon during his testimony denied he owned a gun.
Dillon stood up in the van “and falsely accused me of trying to draw a gun on them,” Calandro testified. “[Dillon] was in an absolute rage” and “he strikes me a number of times.”
Asked by defense attorney Tom Clark if he pulled the trigger on his .40-caliber pistol, Calandro said, “in self-defense, yes,” adding that he fired “all four or five shots at once as fast as possible.” Calandro admitted then hitting Dillon “maybe twice in the head” with the handgun because he thought Dillon was going to reach for a .25-caliber pistol that Calandro said Dillon kept in an ankle holster.
Dillon, in halting, sometimes tearful testimony, told a different story. He told of befriending Calandro after meeting him through another of the van passengers and inviting him over to help prepare Thanksgiving dinner for Dillon and his wife. Dillon said the two bonded and had sparred in martial arts.
Dillon said he was a mixed martial arts cage fighter and was a veteran of about 18 matches. “I loved [Calandro] like a brother,” Dillon said of the man he had known for six or seven months.
Within seconds of the cop joke, Dillon said, Calandro’s hand was on his holstered pistol. “I was in shock,” and got halfway up, Dillon said. “Are you really grabbing your gun right now, bro? He just popped it off, bang, bang.”
Dillon testified that Calandro then “hit me seven times in the head with the gun.”
Calandro got out of the van before the others drove Dillon to the hospital.
Under questioning by the defense lawyer, Dillon said he has ongoing medical problems from the five bullet wounds suffered during the shooting and problems with memory.
Dillon said that .25-caliber ammunition found in the glove box of his car was not his and that he didn’t own a gun.
Clark pointed out that Dillon seemed to recall the shooting details vividly but couldn’t remember an interview a month ago when Clark’s investigator asked if Dillon owned a handgun. “I don’t remember the interview,” Dillon said, adding he thought he had borrowed a handgun from a friend.
Dillon testified there was “never” any discussion of robbing Calandro and said he had not taken drugs before getting in the van. When asked by Clark why Valium and marijuana were found in his system during toxicology screening at the hospital, Dillon said he had might have consumed marijuana the day before.