Leon Law, one of two teenagers accused of shooting a homeless woman to death in May, will be held without bail pending trial after waiving a dangerousness hearing on Oct. 15.
District Judge Anastasia Martin ordered he be held without bail following a court hearing, where his attorney, Samuel Ruyle, stipulated to what would have happened, had the dangerousness hearing, scheduled for Oct. 17, gone forward.
Law and co-defendant Isaiah Maestas, both 15, are charged with murder and attempted murder for allegedly shooting Monica Carter, 43, in her tent at point-blank range, once in the face and once in the abdomen, and, the same night, shooting a man walking on the side of the road, leaving him paralyzed.
New evidence that Law’s attorney stipulated to includes multiple surveillance videos, witness statements, spent shell casings from the scene that match shell casings found in the vehicle Law and Maestas were in the night of the shooting, and that he was known to have “ridden in regularly,” Martin wrote.
“The Defendant’s history and characteristics indicate several incidents involving firearms and acts of violence,” Martin wrote. “The Defendant’s violent conduct appears to be aimed against people who are vulnerable. This factor weighs in favor of detention.”
She wrote there was also evidence that he would commit new crimes if released on bail and that a detective would have testified to “Defendant’s recent history of random violence.”
Both boys were previously ordered to be held as dangers to the community in a separate case where they allegedly opened fire in front of a tent encampment at a homeless shelter in Española.
Martin ordered Maestas to be held without bail following a dangerousness hearing on Oct. 10.
The stipulated order to hold Law without bail mirrors the order Martin filed on Oct. 15 to have Maestas held without bail.
No new hearings have been set in either case.
A Rio Arriba grand jury indicted Maestas on Sept. 18, on one count each of first degree murder, tampering with evidence, unlawful carrying of a handgun of someone under 19, attempt to commit first degree murder and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery and two counts of conspiracy to commit first degree murder.
The grand jury indicted Law on one count each of first degree murder, attempt to commit first degree murder, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, unlawful carrying of a handgun of someone under 19 and two counts of conspiracy to commit first degree murder.
Shooting Death
In a heavily redacted incident report from May on the discovery of Carter’s body, officers wrote that a man called 911 on May 31 and said a woman was dead behind the strip mall on North Railroad Avenue and that she lived back there with her boyfriend, who was missing. He usually took them to church with him and to their methadone appointments.
Carter had a small hole on the right-hand side of her stomach, that had been bleeding, and the officer couldn’t tell if it was a stab wound or a bullet wound, according to the report. She also had blood dripping from what appeared to be her head, according to the incident report.