Las Cruces man gets decades in prison, pleads innocence as victim's family vents rage
During an emotional hearing that required a dozen deputies to keep the peace, a judge sentenced a Las Cruces man convicted of murder to 45 years in prison Tuesday.
Steven Valdez, 45, was convicted of first-degree murder on Oct. 12 by a jury. The jury also found Valdez guilty of aggravated battery, aggravated assault, and aggravated fleeing a law enforcement officer. Valdez was initially arrested and charged on Feb. 23, 2023.
A jury found Valdez fatally shot Brittney Skaggs, his girlfriend, on Feb. 23, 2023, before pistol-whipping her friend at a Las Cruces mobile home park and leading police on a cross-town chase down Valley Drive.
During a sentencing hearing on Tuesday, Valdez professed his innocence and demanded he receive a new court-appointed lawyer. Valdez claimed that his lawyer, Michael Rosenfield, failed to interview witnesses and did not represent him well enough.
"It was not fair," Valdez said. "I didn't have any witnesses on my behalf."
Valdez also requested a new trial twice during the hearing. Both requests were denied.
No one spoke on Valdez' behalf during the sentencing hearing, although about a half dozen people in the courtroom cheered on Valdez as he spoke.
The judge later told that same group to quiet down.
Sitting behind them, family and friends of Skaggs waited for their turn to speak. When they did, they expressed dismay and pain directed at Valdez.
"Words cannot express the raw hatred I have for Steven Valdez," Tamara King, a friend of Skaggs, said during the hearing.
King and other family and friends described Skaggs as a loving and beautiful person who'd undergone immense suffering at the hands of Valdez.
Phyl Bean, a prosecutor with the 3rd Judicial District Attorney's Office, added that Valdez was facing other grave domestic violence allegations when Skaggs was killed. Bean said Valdez was accused of sexually assaulting Skaggs, hitting her with a baseball bat, and trying to drown her.
"I just pray he's not allowed to do that to another woman again," King said.
After the allocution, Judge Richard Jacquez said he'd thought hard about how to sentence Valdez. Among others, the big question before him was whether the mandatory 30-year sentence of first-degree murder would run concurrent or consecutive to the combined 15 years for the other three counts.
Valdez's attorney argued for a concurrent sentence or for suspending the 15 years.
"He wouldn't see a parole board until he was 75," Rosenfield said.
But Jacquez said that would be unfair to the Skaggs friend who was pistol-whipped, to the police who chased him across town, and to the community members put in danger by the pursuit. With that in mind, Jacquez said justice could only be delivered via a maximum sentence.
That would not be the end of it, however. After Skaggs's family and friends left the courtroom, Jacquez gave Valdez another opportunity to speak. For about 20 minutes, Valdez criticized the judge for allowing "false testimony" to be heard by the jury, his lawyer for what he described as inadequate representation, and, again, professed his innocence.
"I'm not guilty of what I'm charged with," Valdez said.
Justin Garcia is a reporter for the Las Cruces Sun-News. He can be reached at JEGarcia@LCSun-News.com.
This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Judge gives Las Cruces man decades in prison after murder conviction
