Tesuque man sentenced to 15 years in prison for killing brother
Jan. 26—State District Judge T. Glenn Ellington sentenced a Tesuque man to 15 years in prison Tuesday for fatally shooting his brother in 2020.
A jury convicted Patricio Griego, 68, of second-degree murder in November in connection with the death of 75-year-old Jimmy Griego, a longtime employee of the Santa Fe Opera and volunteer firefighter.
"The family shared their emotions and pain with the court and requested the full sentence be served by Patricio," the First Judicial District Attorney's Office wrote on its Facebook page Wednesday.
Patricio Griego shot his brother in the Tesuque home he shared with their mother after the siblings argued over who would inherit her house, prosecutors told jurors during a four-day trial.
His second-degree murder conviction was a step down from the first-degree murder penalty prosecutors had sought in the case, but a step up from the voluntary manslaughter charge Griego's defense attorney Sydney West had argued would be appropriate.
West argued the state hadn't proven Griego deliberated before he shot his brother, a mandatory element of first-degree murder.
Patricio Griego has a low IQ and other cognitive deficits, West told jurors at trial, and hadn't planned to kill his brother but had been frightened and flustered when Jimmy Griego showed up at the house in Tesuque unannounced and angry that morning.
West did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
