Anaya acquitted of murder in DJ's death; jury deadlocks on manslaughter
Mar. 8—After hours of deliberation Wednesday, a Santa Fe County jury found Edwin Anaya not guilty of second-degree murder in the January 2021 fatal shooting of Pete Gurule, a 40-year-old father of two who was well known in the community for spending two decades as a popular DJ at KSFR.
The jury deadlocked on a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter — with an 8-4 vote in favor of a guilty verdict — prompting state District Judge T. Glenn Ellington to declare a mistrial.
A prosecutor said he plans to seek a second trial on the stepped-down charge for 35-year-old Anaya, who claimed he had shot Gurule in self-defense during a brutal late-night brawl at Gurule's home that left him battered. He also accused Gurule of sexually assaulting him, which he testified had triggered his trauma stemming from childhood sexual abuse.
"We are delighted that Edwin has been acquitted on [the] second-degree murder charge," Anaya's defense attorney, Dan Cron, said in an interview after the proceeding. "We think that he is not guilty of the voluntary manslaughter charge."
Family and friends of both Gurule and Anaya said they were unsatisfied with the jury's decision, announced around 5 p.m. Wednesday following a five-day trial that began March 1.
Those seated on Gurule's side of the courtroom started to trickle out shortly after Anaya was acquitted of second-degree murder. Those who remained seated bowed their heads and seemed to stifle their emotions.
Anaya's aunt, Frances Porterfield, said she wasn't sure how to feel.
"[He] has to go through it all over again," she said, referring to the likelihood Anaya will be tried again. "He's a good boy — unbelievable what's happening. He walks in with a friend — a friend [who] turns out to not be a friend. It's very difficult to see him in that condition because he's such a good boy. He's never gotten into trouble."
Court records do not indicate Anaya was ever charged with a crime in New Mexico before Gurule's death.
He was accused of fatally shooting Gurule once in the chest in the early morning hours of Jan. 18, 2021, amid a fight that erupted after the two had spent an evening drinking alcohol and smoking cannabis together at Gurule's home in a midtown neighborhood.
Anaya fled after the shooting, prosecutors and his defense attorney said, and then called 911. According to court documents, witness testimony, recordings and photographs, police found him scarcely clothed and bloodied at a nearby intersection, where he was lying on the sidewalk, moving in and out of consciousness. He gave officers a handgun and told them he had acted in self-defense when he shot Gurule, a criminal complaint said.
After Gurule's death, many who knew him spoke of his selflessness, his love for music and his dedication to his radio show and fans.
The defense portrayed a man whose personal life was in decline.
Jurors heard testimony that Gurule had been self-medicating with alcohol and drugs, that he was bisexual and highly sexually active, and that his marriage was ending. His widow, Amber Gurule, took the stand early in the trial and said she had filed for divorce about a month before her husband was killed.
Anaya and Pete Gurule had planned to go target shooting together Jan. 18. After spending the prior evening listening to music, drinking and smoking marijuana, Anaya testified, he went to sleep on Gurule's couch. He woke up later to discover the friend was sexually assaulting him, he said.
When he asked Gurule to stop, Gurule became even more sexually aggressive, Anaya said.
The encounter led to a fight that left Anaya beaten so badly, he said, that after several attempts to escape a headlock that was suffocating him, he grabbed a gun out of a pocket and shot Gurule.
"I felt at the time that I exhausted all of my options. I tried everything — I couldn't breathe," Anaya told the court Monday.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Anthony Long referred to the defense's characterization of Gurule during his closing arguments Tuesday and asked jurors whether the slain man was the one on trial.
"And if you say, unanimously, that Pete Gurule deserved to die, you have to find [Anaya] not guilty," Long said.
