Man accused of killing dog walker in Santa Fe testifies he wasn't shooter but did run
Jul. 16—Zachary Gutierrez took the stand in his own defense Thursday, telling jurors it was Jesus Arrieta-Perez who shot and killed a Michigan man walking near Airport Road on a September night in 2018.
Gutierrez, now 20, was 17 when he was accused of fatally shooting 64-year-old Richard Milan.
His still-youthful voice broke with emotion as he spoke about what happened the night Milan died.
"I want to testify because I feel that it's right that the jury hears my part of the story," he said.
According to evidence presented during his second-degree murder trial, Gutierrez was walking on a dirt trail near Lucia Lane with Arrieta-Perez and three girls when the group encountered Milan out walking his dog around 8 p.m.
Arrieta-Perez had testified Wednesday that Gutierrez was "drunk out of his mind" and shot Milan after the older man closed in on the group from behind.
But in his testimony Thursday, Gutierrez said he was not drunk and did not shoot Milan.
By his account, it was Arrieta-Perez — who goes by the nickname "Chuy" — who began arguing with Milan after Milan seemed to have appeared out of nowhere and spooked one of the girls.
"I looked back and saw Chuy approaching him, and I went and tagged along," Gutierrez said. "I was curious to see what was going on.
Chuy was arguing with him," he said. "I was arguing, too. But not to the point that I wanted to hurt the man."
Gutierrez said the confrontation was about why the man had scared one of the girls in the group, but he couldn't remember what exactly was said.
When the group began walking again, Gutierrez said, Milan also continued walking in the same direction — taking to the street as opposed to the sidewalk when the trail ended.
As they all proceeded onto Lucia Lane, he said, the older man was walking almost abreast of them.
"He is coming a little closer," Gutierrez said, and he said he caught up with one of the girls to discuss how they should handle the situation.
He said that when he turned around again, he saw Arreita-Perez shoot Milan.
"Chuy out of nowhere just shoots the man," he said. "I'm like, 'He just shot him! He just shot him!' We just all freeze. I remember three shots. We just all ran. Yes, I did run. That's something I have to live with. I didn't help him."
Gutierrez was charged with second-degree murder in the case after his companions made statements to police implicating him in Milan's death.
But two of the three girls in the group testified Thursday it was Arrieta-Perez, not Gutierrez, who shot Milan.
Marissa Montoya — who said she'd known Gutierrez since childhood — testified she was dating Arrieta-Perez at the time and that he had threatened to hurt her and her family if she informed on him.
"He had told me that if I ever said anything about this ... that he would slit my throat," she said. "I told police Zach was the one that shot the guy ... because I was scared of Chuy."
Montoya and Gutierrez both cried while she was on the stand.
Evelyn Becerra also testified Arrieta-Perez shot Milan following an argument that broke out on the trail.
Both girls said Arrieta-Perez had shown them two guns he had the night before the shooting.
The third girl did not participate in the trial.
Defense attorney Stephen Aarons played video footage Thursday taken from a police lapel camera in which a bystander said he heard shots and saw someone standing over Milan's body mouthing words before he pulled up his hood and fled.
The man described someone heavyset, like the officer. Gutierrez is short and slight and weighs about 145 pounds, his attorney said.
Arrieta-Perez initially told police he didn't see who shot Milan but changed his story after he was interviewed by U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents in an unrelated case.
Aarons has suggested Arrieta-Perez was pressured by the agents to testify against his client.
Aarons told state District Judge T. Glenn Ellington he subpoenaed one of the agents and the agent had been willing to testify, but the federal agency refused to allow it.
The evidence portion of the trial ended Thursday. Attorneys are expected to make closing arguments in the case Friday.
