El Paso courts: Man acquitted in peeing dog murder case, drivers sentenced in DWI deaths

A murder trial, two intoxicated manslaughter cases and a federal fraud conviction reached resolutions in state and federal courts in El Paso in recent weeks.

The cases included an El Paso man acquitted on a murder charge after shooting his neighbor with an AK-47 rifle in an argument over a peeing dog three years ago.

Man acquitted of murder over neighbor's dog peeing on his property

Eduardo David Blanco, 31, was found not guilty June 28 by a jury of murder and two counts of aggravated assault in connection with the 2021 fatal shooting of 26-year-old Atravius Burkes.

Blanco and his attorneys argued at trial that Blanco acted in self-defense. A jury deliberated for several hours over two days before reaching a not guilty verdict.

Blanco was accused of shooting Burkes with an AK-47 rifle about 2:45 a.m. Sept. 15, 2021, after the two got into an argument over Blanco's dog urinating on Burkes' property in the 8900 block of Robert Drive in the Angel's Triangle neighborhood in Northeast El Paso, a complaint affidavit states.

More: El Paso man arrested on murder charge accused of shooting man several times with AK-47

The argument escalated when Burkes allegedly began to urinate on Blanco's property. Burkes pulled up his pants, and allegedly pointed and fired a gun at Blanco. Blanco responded by shooting Burkes with an AK-47 rifle, the affidavit states.

Police wrote in the affidavit that Burkes "did have a handgun in his hand however did not point it at the defendant nor shoot it." The affidavit claims, "Blanco allegedly fired three volleys at close range, including shooting Burkes multiple times after he already had been shot and had fallen on the ground."

Fort Bliss soldier sentenced to 8 years in fatal Loop 375 chain-reaction crash

Former Fort Bliss soldier, Terry Randall Kinkade, was sentenced to eight years in prison in connection with a 2023 fatal wreck that resulted in the death of 31-year-old Alonso Mario Lopez.

Kinkade, who was 21 years old at the time of the crash, pleaded guilty July 9 to two counts of intoxicated manslaughter with a vehicle. He was sentenced the same day to eight years in prison on each count, court records show. The sentences will be served concurrently.

He was accused of speeding in a silver 2019 Nissan Sentra about 2:40 a.m. Oct. 15, 2023, on Loop 375 near Montana Avenue when he approached traffic slowing down because of an unrelated crash, El Paso Police Department officials said at the time of Kinkade's arrest.

Kinkade crashed into the rear of a black 2021 Mazda 3, setting off a chain reaction with a blue 2024 Toyota Camry and a white 2018 Chevrolet Silverado, officials said.

Lopez, who was driving the Mazda, died at a hospital because of the injuries he suffered in the crash. His passenger, Joshua Amid Serrano, 38, was hospitalized with serious injuries, officials said.

More: Fort Bliss driver faces DWI manslaughter case in fatal Loop 375 chain-reaction crash

Kinkade was taken to a hospital for medical treatment. He was arrested after he was released from the hospital.

At the time of the crash, Kinkade was a soldier assigned to the 1st Armored Division, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team.

Kinkade was speeding and under the influence of alcohol, which later were determined to be the main contributing factors in the crash, officials said.

Driver gets 5 years in fatal I-10 drunken driving crash

Martin Medina, of Chaparral, New Mexico, pleaded guilty June 27 to one count of intoxicated manslaughter in connection with a 2023 fatal crash that resulted in the death of 31-year-old Alexander Ortiz, also of Chaparral, court records show.

Medina, who was 31 at the time of the fatal crash, was sentenced the same day to five years in prison, court records show.

He was accused of driving drunk about 2:55 a.m. on Interstate 10 East near Executive Center Boulevard when he crashed his 2017 Nissan Versa into the back of a tractor-trailer. The tractor-trailer was stopped on the right shoulder of I-10 because of an unrelated crash closed down lanes of I-10 East, police officials said.

Medina veered to the right and crashed into the left rear corner of the tractor-trailer, slicing the right side and the roof off the Nissan.

Ortiz, who was a passenger in the Nissan, was thrown from the car and died at the scene. Medina remained at the scene. Officers met with Medina and determined he was intoxicated, officials said.

El Paso businessman convicted of defrauding prisons in Pennsylvania and Alabama

An El Paso man was sentenced July 3 to two years in federal prison for defrauding prisons in Pennsylvania and Alabama, U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas officials said.

Jack McCager Kidd, 72, was sentenced to the prison term, fined $5,000 and ordered to pay $11,397,374 in restitution, federal court records show. He was also sentenced to three years of supervised release after he serves his prison term.

Kidd was the owner of a company contracted by the Bureau of Prisons to construct two gas pipelines to separate correctional institutions. Kidd's company is only identified as "Company A" in a federal complaint affidavit.

The gas pipelines were at a high-security prison in Waymart, Pennsylvania, and a medium-security prison in Aliceville, Alabama, the affidavit states.

Kidd was accused of falsely invoicing the prisons for more natural gas than his company delivered. He also refused to provide information requested by the institutions concerning the amount of natural gas delivered and the calculations he used to determine the monthly invoice amounts, officials said.

The fraud happened between December 2010 and August 2021. The affidavit lists 72 monetary transactions between Kidd and the prisons. The amounts range from $98,000 to $758,614.

Kidd was arrested Oct. 28, 2021. He was originally charged with 72 counts of wire fraud. He pleaded guilty Aug. 30, 2023 to one count of wire fraud. Kidd agreed to pay $11,397,374 in restitution as part of a plea agreement.

Aaron Martinez may be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com or on Twitter @AMartinezEPT.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Courts: El Paso man acquitted in peeing dog, AK-47 murder case