Fatal 2022 shooting results in plea of voluntary manslaughter

Olivier Uyttebrouck , Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
·2 min read

Sep. 28—A man who fatally shot 44-year-old Raul Gallegos in 2022 during a fight between two families outside an Albuquerque apartment complex pleaded no contest Thursday to a felony charge but faces no prison time, court records show.

Michael Koester, 26, pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter and faces five years of supervised probation, according to his plea agreement. His sentencing hearing before 2nd Judicial District Judge Lucy Solimon has not been scheduled.

Koester was initially charged with first-degree murder. However, Koester has a credible argument for self-defense because Gallegos was armed with brass knuckles, which by law are considered a deadly weapon, a prosecutor told Solimon.

As a result, the 2nd Judicial District Attorney's Office chose not to prosecute Koester for first-degree murder, Assistant District Attorney Stephen Lane said.

A teenage tryst led to the fatal encounter between the two families, Lane said. During the fight, Koester grabbed a firearm and fatally shot Gallegos, he said.

The fatal events occurred on July 18, 2022, when Daysha Aragon returned to her apartment at 6000 Topke NE and found a teenage boy laughing in a bedroom with three teenage girls, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.

The boy, identified as J.G., and one of the girls were putting their clothes on, the complaint said. J.G. is Gallegos' son, it said.

Koester, Aragon's boyfriend, confronted J.G., who called family members and asked them to come to the apartment complex, leading to a fight in the parking lot, the complaint said. Police reviewed a portion of the fight captured on a cellphone camera.

The video showed that Koester fought with Gallegos, the complaint said. At times during the fight, Koester held Gallegos against a car and threw him to the ground. Other members of both families also began fighting, including Aragon, J.G.'s mother, Koester's father and others.

"What the witness statements indicate is that Mr. Koester's girlfriend had armed herself with a gun," Lane said. "She didn't draw the gun. During the fight, she began to suffer a seizure and went to the ground."

Koester retrieved the gun from his girlfriend and fired three shots at Gallegos, striking him twice, Lane said.

Gallegos and other family members drove from the scene and flagged down a police service aide, the complaint said. Gallegos later died at University of New Mexico Hospital.