Mistrial declared in Santa Fe murder case

Isabella Alves, Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
·3 min read

Mar. 16—SANTA FE — The 2018 case of a teenager accused of fatally shooting a Michigan man ended in a mistrial Tuesday morning shortly after the trial began.

First Judicial District Judge Glenn Ellington declared a mistrial during opening arguments due to "manifest necessity" in order to protect the Constitutional rights of a key witness in the case, who is facing federal charges in another case.

The defendant, Zachary Gutierrez, who was 17 at the time of the shooting, is facing charges of second-degree murder and tampering with evidence for allegedly killing 64-year-old Richard Milan of Kalamazoo, Michigan. In September 2018, Milan was walking his dog on Airport Road near Lucia Lane when he came upon a group of teenagers and was allegedly shot by Gutierrez after an argument.

During opening arguments, prosecutors objected to defense attorney Stephen Aarons bringing up federal charges against the prosecution's main witness, Jesus "Chuy" Arietta-Perez. Prosecutor Tony Long said if Arietta-Perez is asked about his pending federal gun and drug charges it could violate his rights in his federal case.

Ellington said Aarons would be allowed to ask Arrietta-Perez about those charges as they pertain to Gutierrez's case.

"He needs an attorney here, unless you know how to do that in half an hour I think we have a mistrial," Ellington said, later adding that it would have been nice if prosecutors had brought up these concerns at their Friday motion hearing.

Ellington said the delay would be counted against the prosecutor's speedy trial deadline.

After the mistrial, Aarons said he didn't know why the issues didn't come up earlier.

District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies wasn't happy about the delay and blamed Gutierrez's defense.

"The time, energy and resources that our team expended to get this case to trial is undermined by defense's inappropriate commentary to the jury in opening statements," she said in an email to the Journal. "The issue of a witness's pending criminal charges was a subject of pretrial litigation and the Court set certain parameters for the parties. Defense was aware of the parameters, yet made comments to the jury that the Court determined crossed the line of its pretrial rulings."

She added prosecutors will be filing motion to get the case an immediate trial setting.

At the trial, Aarons said he needed to ask Arietta-Perez about his federal charges because he was arrested for them about an hour before he was interviewed by law enforcement about Milan's death.

During this interview, Arietta-Perez said Gutierrez shot Milan, which is contradictory to what Arietta-Perez allegedly said in a previous statement to law enforcement. Law enforcement officers allegedly told Arietta-Perez that cooperating with them could be his "moneymaker."

Aarons said he wouldn't ask Arietta-Perez to admit guilt for his federal charges, but just ask him to confirm what he told law enforcement.

"All we are doing is affirming that he said what he said," Aarons said. "I think it's highly relevant to his bias and motive to lie."

This argument and line of questioning is essential to the defense's case, Aarons argued.

"I understand what he's trying to do, but we're also getting to the point where we are making the United States Attorney's Office case for them," said Long, the prosecuting attorney. "All of a sudden we've got sworn testimony about this and he (Arietta-Perez) absolutely is going to have to have an attorney here."

Judges and prosecutors have an added responsibility of protecting people's Constitutional rights, Long said. He said by allowing the Arietta-Perez to be asked these questions would absolutely be violating his Constitutional rights.

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