Prosecutors dropped charges of attempted murder against an Española man in exchange for him waiving a preliminary hearing. He’s accused of shooting at the people he was staying with.
Prosecutor Kent Wahlquist agreed to drop two charges of attempted murder and one count of shooting at a vehicle against Christopher Chacon, 39, in exchange for him waiving a preliminary hearing on charges of felon in possession of a firearm and trafficking fentanyl, in a waiver filed Oct. 15.
Prosecutors sought to have Chacon held without bail as a danger to the community, pending trial, citing that he allegedly shot at the people he was staying with after they asked him to think about paying rent. They also cited that he was held as a danger in 2019 and has a “long history of committing crimes, often while on conditions of release,” Wahlquist wrote.
Wahlquist summed up a series of cases against Chacon, including shoplifting cases, threatening to shoot people, drugs, punching a woman in the face because she said she doesn’t like hanging out with him because he’s so mean and aggressive, and attacking jail guards, along with other inmates.
Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s Deputy Andrew Varbel arrested Chacon on two counts of first degree murder, Sept. 29. Prosecutors amended the charges several days later, to attempted first degree murder. They then sought to have him held without bail as a danger to the community.
While Chacon waived a preliminary hearing on Oct. 15, two days before his combined dangerousness and preliminary hearing was set to take place, it is not clear from court records and dockets if he will continue to be held. The dangerousness hearing appears to have been moved to Oct. 15, when he waived a preliminary hearing, but he did not waive his dangerousness hearing.
However, he appears to continue to be held without bail. The new case has not yet been filed in district court.
A status conference is set Nov. 3 in his dangerousness case.
Attempted murder is a second degree felony with a max sentence of nine years on each count, with a five year firearms enhancement on each. Shooting at or from a vehicle is a fourth degree felony with a maximum sentence of 18 months.
Felon in possession of a firearm is a third degree felony, with a maximum sentence of three years and trafficking by possession with intent to distribute is a second degree felony with a maximum sentence of nine years.
Shooting at Friends
Varbel wrote in a criminal complaint that a victim called police only after Chacon allegedly shot at him and kicked him and his girlfriend out of their own home earlier in the day at gunpoint.
The man told deputies that he sat Chacon down to talk about starting to pay rent and in response, Chacon accused him of stealing his wallet days later, pulled a gun, threatened to kill them and kicked them out of their own house at gunpoint.
They came back to the house a few hours later and when they did, Chacon allegedly tried to break their car window with a rock. When he was unable to break the glass, he became enraged. As they tried to flee, Chacon allegedly pulled out the pistol and fired at them, then fired a second time, Varbel wrote.
When deputies searched the car, they found two bullet holes: one in the hood and another in the grill, and retrieved one bullet. Inside the house, other officers had already found a shell casing in the living room, he wrote.