Santa Fe man convicted of second-degree murder in 2018 shooting
Oct. 25—A Santa Fe County jury on Wednesday convicted 85-year-old Ben Noverto Martinez of second-degree murder and tampering with evidence in the death of Thomas Trujillo, his daughter's boyfriend, in 2018.
Trujillo, 57, was found fatally shot in Martinez's home on Santa Fe's southwest side after a night of drinking.
Jurors deliberated for several hours Wednesday after listening to attorneys' closing arguments in the case, in which Martinez faced a count of first-degree murder. They found him guilty of the lesser charge.
A Santa Fe County sheriff's deputy took Martinez into custody and led him out of the courtroom.
Judge T. Glenn Ellington said his sentencing hearing would be held in about 30 days.
Trujillo's family members — including his daughter, Maria Ruiz, who testified during the trial — sat close to one another in the courtroom as Ellington read the jury's verdicts.
Ruiz was in tears as the family left the court.
A man who identified himself as Trujillo's brother declined to comment on the outcome of the trial.
Deputy District Attorney JoHanna Cox said the conviction came with a firearm enhancement, which will add one year to Martinez's sentence.
"It was a successful case, so we are happy with the results," Cox said.
The trial for the 2018 shooting began in the First Judicial District Court last week. Martinez took the stand in his own defense Tuesday, testifying he did not kill Trujillo, whom he called "a good man."
After an evening of drinking, Martinez offered Trujillo a guest room for the night and went to bed himself, he said, adding he didn't hear any noises in the home after he went to bed because he was drunk and "passed out."
Trujillo was shot once in the chest and twice in the back. Martinez found him lying on the living room floor the next morning. Martinez's gun was lying next to his body.
Prosecutors called it a case of "simple math," saying the two were alone in the house when the shooting occurred, but Martinez's attorney, Stephen Aarons, cast doubt on the police investigation, theorizing a "midnight visitor" showed up at the residence that night and shot Trujillo.
In his closing arguments, Aarons reviewed analyses of DNA collected from Martinez's gun and shot glasses left in the sink, arguing they showed a "mystery person" had used the glasses and held the gun.
Martinez had "the opposite of a motive" to kill Trujillo, Aarons said. "Ben liked him so much that he invited [his neighbor] to meet him" that night over drinks.
Martinez's behavior when his brother arrived the next morning was "not consistent with him being a shooter," Aarons said, but "consistent with a man who has no idea what happened that night."
Cox said in her closing arguments Aarons' theory that another person had entered the home, and knew where to find Martinez's gun, didn't make sense.
"The only thing that makes sense is the simple math that the state has provided to you," Cox told jurors. "Two people in that house — one ended up dead."
Cox said the defense was trying to "creatively explain" the math of the DNA analysis and added some of the DNA from the handgun was insufficient for testing because the weapon had been wiped clean.
The only DNA sufficient for testing, she said, was Martinez's.
Aarons also called attention to a spot of Trujillo's blood found on Martinez's right cuff, saying it was "evidence of innocence, not guilt." He said the blood had gotten on Martinez's clothing when he found Trujillo's body in the morning, not during the shooting.
Cox pointed out the bloodstain was on the top of Martinez's cuff and said no other witnesses, officers or crime scene technicians had received any blood transfer while handling Trujillo's body.
