Daniel Martinez will stay incarcerated until he turns 21 after a jury found him guilty of shooting at or from a motor vehicle causing death in the killing of Reuben Trujillo in November 2022.
District Court Judge T. Glenn Ellington sentenced Martinez to the maximum allowed under the law, two years for the 19-year-old. Ellington found Martinez, a serious juvenile offender, is amenable to treatment following a March 18 hearing, making the maximum sentence incarceration until 21. Had Ellington found him not amenable to treatment, he could have been sentenced as an adult. He was 17 at the time of the killing.
A jury initially deadlocked on a second-degree murder charge in a trial that started on May 28, for the killing of Trujillo, 19. Prosecutors then tried Martinez again, this time on the lesser charge of shooting at or from a vehicle resulting in death and unlawful possession of a handgun by someone under 19, securing a conviction, First Judicial District Attorney’s Office Spokeswoman Catherine Lynch said.
Prosecutors argued for the maximum sentence, which Ellington handed out, she said.
If Ellington hadn’t found Martinez amenable to treatment, he would have faced a maximum sentence of 18 years, according to state law.
At the end of the hearing on April 9, Martinez was taken into custody to begin serving his sentence. He will spend his sentence at the New Mexico Youth Diagnostic Development Center in Albuquerque, a detention center where people adjudicated as juveniles go to serve their sentences.
Martinez apologized to the family during the hearing, saying he was sorry for what happened, Lynch said.
Juvenile court records are not publicly available.
A few of Trujillo’s family members told Ellington that Martinez should face a longer prison sentence, according to media reports.
While Martinez fatally shot Trujillo in a driveway in Española, Martinez went to the hospital after the shooting for a bullet in his leg, as Trujillo was also armed. Who shot whom first was unclear, Lynch said.
According to an obituary, Trujillo excelled at operating heavy machinery, which he started on at age 6, in order to take over his dad’s excavating business.
He was an “avid” snowboarder and spent all of his winter on the ski slopes and was engaged to be married.
“Reuben was hardworking, strong in his faith, and loving to all,” according to his obituary. “He will be missed beyond words.”