Anaya takes stand in his murder trial
35-year-old accused in 2021 fatal shooting tells jurors he was defending himself from assault: ‘I couldn’t breathe’
A Santa Fe man accused of murdering a well-known local DJ testified Monday that he fired the gun only after being sexually assaulted and then beaten by the victim.
Edwin Anaya told jurors in a state district courtroom in Santa Fe he had awakened on a couch on an early morning more than two years ago to discover he was being sexually assaulted by Pete Gurule.
When he asked Gurule to stop the alleged attack, Gurule became even more sexually aggressive, removing Anaya’s pants while he was kicking to get away, Anaya said.
The encounter led to a fight that left Anaya beaten so badly, he said, that after several attempts to escape, he grabbed a gun out of his pants and fatally shot Gurule.
“I felt at the time that I exhausted all of my options. I tried everything — I couldn’t breathe,” Anaya, 35, told the court Monday, the fourth day of what is expected to be a five-day trial on a count of second-degree murder.
He is accused of fatally shooting 40-year-old Gurule around 2 a.m. Jan. 18, 2021, at Gurule’s home on Rancho Siringo Road in the midtown area.
The two men had planned to go target shooting together that day — which is why he had a gun, Anaya said — and decided to hang out the prior night. They each drank alcohol and consumed marijuana before Anaya fell asleep on Gurule’s couch, according to his testimony.
Defense attorney Dan Cron asked Anaya to describe the injuries he sustained in the fight with Anaya, including a black eye, a “busted” nose, and numerous scratches and bruises across his body. Jurors also were shown photos of Anaya’s physical state the day after the incident.
Anaya told Cron he had been raped by a male relative when he was about 6 or 7. Gurule’s alleged assault rekindled his childhood trauma, he said.
“I thought I was past that part of my life,” Anaya said, struggling to maintain his composure.
He ran as far as he could after the shooting, he said, before calling police.
According to police lapel camera video shown earlier in the trial, officers found him bloodied and splayed on a sidewalk near an intersection.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Anthony Long began cross-exam
ining Anaya by asking about his handgun, which he said did not have a safety.
Anaya told Cron he is a responsible gun owner who keeps his firearm in a safe with a gun lock. Still, Long pressed him about the lack of a safety, asking if he selected a specific model due to its lack of such a device.
Anaya said he simply wanted to be ready and able to access his gun in case he needed it.
“The safety in that is knowing my gun and whether it’s chambered or not, so I am the safety,” Anaya said.
Long noted a lack of text messages on Anaya’s phone the day of the shooting and in the two days that preceded it, and asked whether he had deleted any messages. Anaya denied deleting any messages and said he could not recall sending or receiving any texts those three days.
Long also asked Anaya about how he and Gurule were positioned during the fight, and where each was in Gurule’s home as the struggle unfolded. Anaya said Gurule had pulled a hood over his eyes at one point, and he didn’t have “any special orientation” of where he was in the room.
“So, Mr. Anaya, with ... your attorney you seem to have some particularly good orientation — you knew where a hoodie was, you knew where a lighter was, you knew where you were,” Long said. “With me, you’re having some orientation issues.”
Long’s assessment appeared to be accurate, Anaya said.
Prosecutors’ cross-examination of Anaya and closing arguments in the case are expected to conclude Tuesday. While the trial, which began March 1, initially was set to end Monday, court records show an extra day was added to the proceedings.