A Rio Arriba grand jury indicted two 15-year-old boys on charges of first degree murder for the alleged shooting death of a homeless woman in May.
Leon Law and Isaiah Nicholas Maestas, whose addresses are listed as the Farmington Juvenile Detention Center, were indicted on Sept. 18.
The grand jury indicted Maestas 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 firs 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.
The boys are accused of shooting and killing Monica Carter, 43, who was found dead on May 31 behind the strip mall on North Railroad Avenue. They are also accused of attempting to kill a man and either hitting or shooting him with a gun.
Because the teens were indicted, no court documents have the narrative of what police allege happened.
The teens were arraigned on Oct. 3, where they entered not guilty pleas.
A Santa Fe New Mexican report said that the boys have been held as dangers to the community since late July, following an order by District Judge T. Glenn Ellington, in a case where they were accused of opening fire outside the Pathways Shelter in Española, in Santa Fe County.
Española Police Chief Mizel Garcia described that incident on July 15 in Albuquerque at a news conference, when he spoke about problems in Española. He showed the group some photos of the boys allegedly shooting in an Española parking lot.
“This was a case where we had two 15-year-olds armed with rifles that went to our homeless shelter,” he said. “They stood over it, and thank goodness that shelter, the parking lot had been cleared. We had 30 to 40 tents there, with approximately 60 people there. On the night that these juveniles went, there were maybe nine to 16 people there. They fired rounds over the heads for no apparent reason. They fired rounds over the heads of these homeless people who were sleeping in the parking lot and we ended up arresting them. There was no purpose for doing it. They just wanted to go out and do it.”
According to other media reports, Ellington wrote in the order holding them without bail as dangerous, that a Pathways Shelter employee gave surveillance footage to police, showing three people walking toward the shelter: two can be seen holding and loading a rifle, then they begin shooting.
“In this incident, the Defendant along with his Co-Defendant opened fire on a group of homeless individuals without provocation as they slept in the early morning hours,” Ellington wrote in orders dated July 24 and 25.
He also wrote in the order holding Law that he had “previous charges of violence, a battery against a fellow student, dismissed due to violation of time deadlines.” Meanwhile, Maestas “has another case from an incident occurring 2 weeks earlier which also involves charges of Aggravated Assault with a Deadly weapon and Battery.”
Attempts to find the quoted-from order, and the case underlying it were unsuccessful, as they appear to be hidden from the online court system because Law and Maestas are juveniles. The New Mexican noted that the charges in the case where they are being held without bail are unknown.
According to the indictments, four Española police officers and detectives testified to the grand jury: Dominic Ellis, Dwayne Epling, Byron Abeyta and Adrian Martinez.
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 and that the boyfriend 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 on her head.
The missing boyfriend was noted as suspicious. Law and Maestas are charged with aggravated battery and attempted murder for attacking a man with a handgun, although the indictments don’t specify if he was shot or physically beat with the gun.
Another attack?
In July, Garcia also talked about several teenagers randomly attacking a man outside a grocery store, curb stomping him, although it is not clear if the teenagers accused in the second attack outside the grocery store are Law and Maestas.
“But that wasn’t enough,” Garcia said at the time. “They pulled out the AR rifle they had, and they butt-stroked the subject to the point where his eyeball was hanging out of his head.”
Law and Maestas are accused of shooting at the Pathway Shelter “with rifles,” although it’s not clear if that means an assault-style rifle, often shortened to AR, or something else.
Carter
According to her obituary, Carter has two sons.
“Monica will be remembered for her gracious and gentle spirit, her thoughtful nature, her love for her friends and family and the way she could bring a smile with just a few kind words,” the obituary said.
In lieu of flowers, mourners were asked to donate to the Española Humane Society or the Española Pathways Shelter.
Material from past Rio Grande SUN stories was used in this report.