Widow testifies about night husband was killed as trial begins

Feb. 8—One — two — three — four — one — two — three — four.

The numbers rang out Wednesday, in rapid succession, as the audio system in Judge T. Glenn Ellington's First Judicial District courtroom played a recording of Elizabeth Romero's initial phone call to a 911 dispatcher in the wake of her husband's shooting.

Romero sat on the witness stand and listened to herself scream and sob while performing chest compressions to the dispatcher's beat, desperately pleading for first responders to arrive.

She relived the harrowing memory in front of a family, friends and a jury — all of whom gathered Wednesday for the first day of Joseph Jones' trial. The defendant is accused of fatally shooting 52-year-old Robert Romero in the chest in the early morning of July 30, 2018, while breaking into the Romero family's backyard and is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated burglary.

"Anybody's home, anybody's husband, anybody's father," Chief Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Padgett Macias said to start her opening statement.

She opened the trial by painting a picture of the Romero family and the last day the four of them spent together before being irreparably torn apart. Padgett Macias said the family had spent part of the day in Albuquerque, dropping off Robert and Elizabeth's oldest daughter, Jordan, at the airport so she could go back to college.

The parents and their younger daughter, Devon, went shopping and ate together at a Panera Bread cafe before heading back to Santa Fe.

"Once at home the day was normal. The energy, the mood in the family a little sad, having just sent Jordan away after a wonderful summer together. But they did the normal things," Padgett Macias said. "They hung out, they watched TV, and Robert — born and raised in Santa Fe — did his activity that he loved most in this world, his therapy — mountain biking."

Romero said her husband loved "anything outdoors" and had a passion for mountain biking, which she said he did about every day. She described Robert as a typical guy — conscious about his height and weight.

"He tried really hard to be 5-9," Romero said when asked how tall her husband was.

Padgett Macias said the Romeros had fallen into a routine over time, with Robert often sleeping downstairs on a couch in the den while watching old Western movies.

Robert and Elizabeth were watching an old, black-and-white Wyatt Earp movie on July 29, 2018, Padgett Macias said, before Elizabeth went upstairs to read, leaving Robert to watch his final Western.

Right before 2 a.m. the next day, Elizabeth woke up to a loud noise coming from her patio. Robert started yelling for help. She ran downstairs and approached a silhouette she mistook for her husband, Padgett Macias said while recounting Elizabeth's experience.

Elizabeth eventually ran back inside their house to get help but heard a gunshot moments later.

"I started [by] mentioning that this could have been anybody's home, but this wasn't anybody's home," Padgett Macias said. "This was the Romero home. ... This wasn't anybody's husband; this was Elizabeth's husband of 21 years. This wasn't anybody's father; this was Jordan and Devon's beloved, goofy, funny dad — 52 years old, shot dead in his own backyard."

There were no suspects in the fatal shooting for about two years. However, DNA left at the Romero house on a pair of eyeglasses and a flashlight helped lead to Jones' 2020 arrest. Santa Fe police submitted the DNA to Parabon NanoLabs, which tied the evidence to three individuals based on a public database filled with genetic profiles.

Padgett Macias said the three subjects were the defendant, his brother and a cousin of theirs.

Defense: 'Not a story of first-degree murder'

Jones' attorney, Sydney West, told the jury Romero's untimely death was a "horrific tragedy" in her opening statement and assured jurors she and the rest of the defense team do not want to downplay the shooting.

However, West said evidence throughout the trial will show the lead-up to Romero's death was not an attempted aggravated burglary — as the state posited — and that Jones may not have been able to fight off Romero.

"I believe that what you're going to hear is that [there] came a point when the man had reason to believe that it was his life that was at stake, that he was being beaten and was being held down, and he wasn't being allowed to escape, that he wasn't able to speak — perhaps he couldn't breathe," West said. "The evidence tells a different story than someone attempting to commit a burglary. ... It's not a story of first-degree murder."

West also told jurors while the Las Casitas neighborhood the Romeros lived in is "a lovely neighborhood full of families," its proximity to a homeless shelter and park — and burglaries that have occurred in the area — may be key factors to understanding "the tone" surrounding Romero's death.

"When Mr. Romero saw a stranger running through his yard, it might have been his feeling that this was a burglar, but there's no evidence to suggest that," West said. "But he also might just have taken the law into his own hands."

District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies — who is serving as co-counsel with Padgett Macias during Jones' trial — spent much of her time interviewing Romero on the witness stand entering a slew of photos of the Las Casitas home into evidence, and asked Romero to indicate the geography of the house room by room.

Carmack-Altwies also walked through Romero's version of the incident, asking questions about the intruder's appearance, the positions she saw her husband and the suspect in during the scuffle which preceded the shooting and a physical demonstration of the altercation using herself, Romero and Padgett Macias.

On cross-examination, West asked Romero about an unsolved burglary that took place in 2014 at the Romero home, their fencing and home security system at the time and a transcript of a conversation she had with law enforcement after the shooting where she indicated it was "so weird" the family dog didn't bark during the incident.

"I'm just — asking you if folks could actually get on your property without notice. Based on the configuration of your property, it sounds like maybe your dog is not likely to react, so I mean, it's possible people are using your property as a shortcut or something," West said. "You would never have known."

Romero said she was baffled at the suggestion people would have used her backyard as a shortcut.

"That is such a far-reaching statement, I don't even know how to answer that," Romero said. "I never had any reason to believe people were going through my backyard; to do so they'd have to jump our fence. You know, I just — I don't even know how to answer something like that."

State prosecutors had planned on calling multiple witnesses to take the stand Wednesday. However, due to a delay caused by wintery weather Wednesday morning, the trial's opening day was pushed back a few hours, leaving Romero as the only witness called.

According to online court records, there are nine days left in the trial after Wednesday, with the last scheduled proceeding set for Feb. 21.