Convictions tossed in triple homicide
Justices rule six guilty verdicts in 2018 slayings of three people in Dixon violated double jeopardy
The New Mexico Supreme Court announced Monday it has upheld the first-degree murder convictions of a Northern New Mexico man for the 2018 slayings of three people in a home near Dixon — but overturned three of his brother’s convictions in the deaths.
Justices determined the six convictions for Roger Gage — three counts each of first-degree willful and deliberate murder and three counts of felony murder — violated constitutional protections against double jeopardy. They vacated the counts of felony murder.
“While only one capital sentence was imposed for each murder, under the judgment and sentence, Defendant stands convicted of six first-degree murder convictions for three killings,” Justice Michael E. Vigil wrote in the court’s opinion.
Gage had raised the double jeopardy issue on appeal, and state prosecutors agreed the felony murder convictions should be vacated, the court said in a news release.
New Mexico law includes several types of first-degree murder charges. Felony murder is a killing that occurs in the commission of a felony or attempt to commit a felony.
Gage was sentenced to three terms of life in prison for the murder convictions and 21 years for convictions of aggravated burglary, conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with evidence. The court upheld the additional charges and noted Gage will serve out his sentences consecutively — which means he won’t be eligible for parole for more than 100 years.
A video surveillance system recorded the shooting deaths of April Browne, 42; Abraham Martinez, 36; and Kierin Guillemin, 27, after Gage and his brother, John Powell, entered Browne’s house in small village of Cañoncito, a few miles from Dixon, where authorities said drug transactions often took place.
All three victims were shot in the head at close range.
Powell had said at his trial he and his brother had committed the killings after going to Browne’s home to pick up some possessions he had left there and to try to buy $40 worth of
heroin from her. But he gave no explanation for the violence.
Powell and his girlfriend were former roommates of Browne but had moved out shortly before the shootings, according to testimony at his trial.
Surveillance video showed Gage shot one of the victims and his brother shot the other two. Gage had argued in his appeal that receiving two life sentences for acting as an accomplice to murder was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court disagreed.
The Supreme Court also rejected Gage’s argument he should receive a new trial because, he claimed, Judge Jason Lidyard had erred in denying a motion to suppress incriminating statements he had made to law enforcement after his arrest.