Robbery-homicide nets 12 years in prison

Olivier Uyttebrouck, Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
·2 min read

Jul. 1—A judge on Wednesday sentenced Lloyd Aguilar to 12 years in prison in connection with the shooting death of a man during a robbery at an Albuquerque motel.

Aguilar, 27, pleaded guilty in June to second-degree murder, armed robbery and other charges in the 2013 death of 28-year-old Paul Ayala, 2nd Judicial District Court records show.

State District Judge Brett Loveless made the 12-year sentence consecutive to a 20-year prison sentence Aguilar is now serving for an unrelated armed robbery of a woman and her three children outside a West Side grocery store in 2013.

Aguilar has remained in custody since his arrest in 2013.

Much of the discussion at the sentencing hearing centered on whether Aguilar or a co-defendant fired the shots that killed Ayala. Loveless dismissed the argument as irrelevant to his sentencing decision.

"I hold (Aguilar) responsible for the death of a human being during a robbery," Loveless said Wednesday. Aguilar "is responsible for the death of Paul (Ayala), regardless who pulled the trigger."

Aguilar's co-defendant, Jose Rios, 28, was convicted in 2015 of second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit armed robbery and sentenced to 16 years in prison, court records show.

Aguilar was found guilty by a jury in 2016 of felony murder, armed robbery and other charges in Ayala's death, but portions of the conviction were overturned on appeal, delaying his plea and sentencing until this year.

Ayala was found shot to death April 30, 2013, outside the Super 8 Motel in the 2500 block of University NE.

Aguilar and Rios were convicted of shooting Ayala as he sat in the driver's seat of his Hummer, pulling Ayala out of the vehicle, then driving away in the Hummer, court records show.

About three months after Ayala's killing, Aguilar used a gun to rob a woman with her three children in tow outside an Albuquerque grocery store, according to court records.

In that case, Aguilar was sentenced in 2017 to 20 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of armed robbery, three counts of child abuse and other charges.

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