GUILTY NM - Lloyd, 55, Dixie, 53, & Steven Ortiz, 21, murdered, El Rancho, 19 June 2011

colette

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A couple and their 21 year old son have been found murdered in their home. At first it was thought they were shot but LE says that is not true and they are not releasing the cause of death only to say all three have been murdered. They live in a small town north of Sante Fe. Lloyd Ortiz, his wife Dixie and their 21-year old foster son Steven were discovered in their El Rancho home Sunday.

The video has a lot of details:

http://www.kasa.com/dpps/news/crime/family-deaths-ruled-a-triple-homicide_3857541

Another article tells how a relative does not like how the murders are being investigated:
The relative chose to remain anonymous and said Steven was not involved in anything bad, like drugs or crime, and was just an innocent victim who for some reason was made a target....

Investigators said that neighbors should be on alert near the home in El Rancho and on the lookout for any suspicious activity in the neighborhood.

http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S2168745.shtml?cat=504
 
http://www.abqjournal.com/542526/news/accused-killer-3-victims-were-friends.html

The young defendant charged with bludgeoning three members of a Santa Fe County family to death in 2011 with a pickax was trying to steal $20,000 to buy drugs – and knew the people he killed well, even staying at their house at times.

That’s according to a State Police report made public for the first time Monday and used to charge Nicholas Ortiz, now 20, with the murders. Ortiz, who was arrested Friday, was only 16 when he allegedly carried out the triple homicide...

Jose Roybal, who the police report says went to the murder scene with Ortiz but “punked out” before the killings, told investigators last year that “Nicholas was as white as a ghost” and “in shock” after beating the three family members to death.
 
From August:

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/ne...cle_5fab5dfd-c919-555c-b095-f24a2e0e4b62.html

At the end of a three-day preliminary hearing, a judge ruled Wednesday that there is probable cause to bind Nicholas Ortiz over for trial in the Father’s Day 2011 mattock-style pickax slayings of a family in their El Rancho home...

[Ashley Roybal] testified this week that she drove Ortiz and her cousin to the victims’ home the night of the killings and that she picked up a shaken Ortiz about 20 minutes later and gave him clean clothes and a trash bag to dispose of his bloody garments, and she let him shower at her house. Her testimony came after she entered a plea deal earlier this week that could send her to prison for up to 14 years for convictions related to the murder case, as well as unrelated burglaries and other crimes...

Marlowe also got the state police sergeant to verify that investigators found a safe with a large amount of money — $80,000, according to Marlowe — inside the Ortiz family’s home.
 
Nicholas Ortiz is about to go to trial:

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/ne...cle_8ce123e9-715e-5e57-a21a-7f2a20591eb0.html

As the First District Attorney’s Office prepares to bring a young Pojoaque man to trial on three counts of first-degree murder in the 2011 slaying of an El Rancho family, both the prosecution and defense are attempting to limit what jurors will hear...

A district judge is scheduled to hear the motions Wednesday. A trial is set to begin May 17 in the case...
 
http://www.abqjournal.com/775852/el...s-but-defense-attorney-asks-for-mistrial.html

Nearly five years after three members of the Ortiz family were killed in the small community of El Rancho, the trial of the young man accused of using a heavy tool as a weapon to commit the homicides began Tuesday with jurors hearing very different accounts from two key witnesses...

Jose Roybal and his first cousin Ashley Roybal, who say they were with Nicholas Ortiz the night of the murders, were the only witnesses to testify Tuesday. Both said they and Nicholas Ortiz hatched a plan to burglarize the Ortiz family's house that night as a means to get money. Ashley Roybal testified there was no plan to kill the Ortizes, but Jose told the jury it was her idea to commit the murders.
 
Jury finds Ortiz guilty in El Rancho pickax murders - December 9th

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/jury-finds-ortiz-guilty-in-el-rancho-pickax-murders/article_e93cba70-be58-11e6-948b-03cec12c1cad.html

A Santa Fe jury on Friday found Nicholas Ortiz guilty of killing three members of an El Rancho family with a pickax on Father’s Day 2011, bringing closure to a case that has haunted the tiny community west of Pojoaque through years of futile investigative efforts until police zeroed in on Ortiz last year.

The crowded courtroom burst with emotion as the verdict was read. Family and friends of the victims wailed and thanked God that their loved one’s' killer was finally brought to justice after five years and a previous trial that ended in a hung jury earlier this year. Ortiz’s family members also broke into tears, loudly proclaiming his innocence as they vowed to appeal and shouted profanity at the backs of prosecutors leaving the courtroom.

Ortiz faces up to 30 years in prison for each of the murder counts and three years each for two other convictions on related charges of aggravated burglary and conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary.
 
From JusticeWillBeServed link:

The verdict means Nicholas Ortiz likely will spend the rest of his life in prison. He was not related to the victims, though he knew them and was a frequent guest in their home.
 
Judge: Jury instructions spoiled triple-homicide convictions

https://www.abqjournal.com/1063813/alleged-pickax-killer-may-get-third-trial-ex-attorney-says-jury-did-not-get-crucial-information-during-previous-trial.html

A Santa Fe District Court judge recently ordered that a young man convicted of killing three members of an El Rancho family with a large pickax in 2011 get a new trial – it would be his third – because prosecutors failed to include crucial jury instructions on the first-degree murder charges.

State District Judge Francis Mathew, who has overseen the Ortiz trials, granted the motion Aug. 8, overturning the murder convictions, because a “fundamental error was committed by the failure of the jury instructions to instruct the jury in any fashion concerning the lack of sufficient provocation as an element of felony murder,” according to a court document filed this week.
 
DA appeals ruling for third trial in pickax slayings

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/da-appeals-ruling-for-third-trial-in-pickax-slayings/article_445df628-3e50-56fe-8872-6aa8d1b5aa30.html

District Attorney Marco Serna is challenging a judge’s decision to grant a third trial to a young man convicted of slaying three members of an El Rancho family with a pickax in 2011.

Serna has filed a notice of intent to appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, Nicholas Ortiz’ attorney, Dan Marlowe, who defended him in his first two trials, is asking to withdraw from the case because Ortiz can’t pay him.

These are just the latest twists in a murder case that has moved at a snail’s pace through the justice system, leaving residents of the small Northern New Mexico community of El Rancho without closure nearly seven years after the killings.
 
Ashley Roybal gets plea deal in El Rancho case

Ashley Roybal, a co-conspirator in the grisly pickax murders of three members of an El Rancho family in 2011, will spend no more than 10½ years in prison for her role in the crime.

Under terms of a bargain with prosecutors, Roybal, 31, was sentenced Thursday to more than 20 years, but she will serve much less time.

Roybal and her cousin, Jose Roybal, were key witnesses in the state’s case against Nicholas Ortiz.

Judge Francis J. Mathew later granted Nicholas Ortiz’ request for a new trial. His attorney had argued that a number of “fundamental errors” occurred in the case, including confusion over jury instructions.

Prosecutors appealed Mathew’s ruling and the state Supreme Court will decide whether he will receive another trial, which would be his third. The first ended in a mistrial with a hung jury.
 
The state Supreme Court reversed a District Court ruling that would have granted a third trial to a Pojoaque man convicted of killing three members of a Northern New Mexico family with a yard tool on Father’s Day in 2011. The Supreme Court, which released its decision Monday, ruled District Judge Francis Mathew didn’t have the authority to grant a new trial in the case because Marlowe hadn’t requested one within 10 days of Ortiz’s conviction in 2016.

Man who killed Northern New Mexico family won’t get third trial
 
A judge is expected to decide whether the courts will hold an amenability hearing for a triple murderer in northern New Mexico. In 2011, a jury found 16-year-old Nicholas Ortiz guilty of killing Dixie, Lloyd and Steven Ortiz.

The teen was never sentenced. Now he’s 24-years-old and his attorneys are asking the court to decide whether he’s amenable to treatment.

The state is asking the judge to deny the motion and to sentence Ortiz as an adult.
Judge to decide on amenability hearing for triple murder suspect
 

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