NM - Dep. Jeremy Martin, 29, fatally shot by fellow Santa Fe deputy, 28 Oct 2014 *case dropped*

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A Santa Fe County sheriff’s deputy was fatally shot by a fellow deputy while staying at a Las Cruces hotel, authorities said.

The two deputies started arguing and the fight escalated, according to Las Cruces police...
The accused shooter has been identified as 27-year-old Tai Chan, according to the Albuquerque Journal. He has not been charged yet.

Jeremy Martin, 29, is the deputy who was killed, according to Sheriff Robert Garcia.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...-fatally-shot-fellow-deputy-article-1.1989826

Santa Fe deputy shooting: Victim was fleeing toward elevator when shot in back
http://www.abqjournal.com/487296/ab...eputy-shoots-kills-another-in-las-cruces.html
 
http://www.koat.com/news/slain-deputy-had-been-drinking-autopsy-shows/30607526

Police said Deputy Tai Chan opened fire on Martin, and the autopsy report shows Martin was shot five times. He had wounds in his upper back, shoulder, buttocks and arm... The report found Martin’s BAC to be just above the legal limit at .10.

When Martin and Chan returned to the hotel, there was some type of fight. The autopsy found cuts on Martin’s eyebrow, abrasions on his body and a cluster of bruises on the knuckles of his right hand...

Las Cruces police are not yet releasing the results of Chan’s blood alcohol tests.
 
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/ne...cle_fb3b0e17-34bf-5db6-af1a-0de3cc87ecf0.html

A District Court judge on Friday agreed to allow former Santa Fe County deputy Tai Chan to live under house arrest in his Eldorado home while awaiting trial on a murder charge...

In addition to allowing Chan to return home, Macias ordered him to wear an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet. He is not allowed to seek employment and may only leave the house to attend religious services.

However, he is still allowed to have contact with his girlfriend, Leah Tafoya, with whom he had been living. She is pregnant with their first child and is a primary witness in the case. Tafoya, police have said, was on the phone with Chan when he shot Martin.
 
http://m.kvia.com/news/former-santa...medium=social&utm_source=twitter_ABC7breaking

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico -

The former Santa Fe Deputy accused of killing his colleague at a Las Cruces hotel appeared in court Tuesday for a pre-trial conference.

Tai Chan is charged with first degree murder. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Chan is accused of firing several shots at his colleague Jeremy Martin at a Las Cruces hotel in 2014.

In court Tuesday, Deputy District Attorney Gerald Byers told Judge Fernando Macias the state plans to call 93 witnesses during the trial that's set for May 23.

The trial is expected to last 3 weeks.

More at link...
 
http://www.abqjournal.com/781798/jurors-hear-from-officers-on-fourth-day-of-chans-trial.html

Las Cruces police Sgt. Todd Froats was the first witness to testify Thursday... Deputy District Attorney Gerald Byers played a 25-minute audio recording from Froats’ uniform recorder. The recording captured all of Froats’ actions that evening...

Around the third or fourth floor, Froats said he started to hear a man yelling from above. As the officers continued up the stairs, Froats said the man, later identified as Chan, was repeatedly yelling: “Sheriff’s office!”...

While in the lobby, Chan continued to yell, according to Officer Jennifer Cady... “(Chan) was screaming that we were all his brothers and sisters,” Cady said, adding that he was also warning the officers about weapons and bombs in the hotel. No explosives were ever found in the hotel.

http://www.koat.com/news/video-deputy-shows-no-emotion-when-told-his-partner-is-dead/39769664

Never-before-seen police video shows Tai Chan saying nothing after detectives tell him his partner is dead.

"I don't know if anyone's told you but Jeremy's dead. OK?" said Detective Rene Molenda to Chan in an interview room. Chan is seen turning away and taking a drink of water.

http://www.koat.com/news/doctor-testifies-about-slain-deputys-blood-alcohol-level/39770764

The doctor who examined a slain deputy's body just hours after his death said his blood alcohol content level was .11, just over the legal limit.

Officials said Jeremy Martin did not have any drugs in his system...

"Is it true that all of the entry gunshot wounds went from back to front?" Deputy District Attorney Gerald Beyers asked.

"Yes it is," Dr. Nika Aljinovic said.
 
From last month:

http://www.koat.com/article/new-date-set-for-tai-chan-retrial/5268318

New Mexico Courts website has posted the new trial date for Tai Chan. Chan's new trial is set for April 3-14 and will begin at 8:30 a.m. on weekdays.

http://www.lcsun-news.com/story/news/local/courts/2016/09/08/prosecutors-seek-move-tai-chan-retrial-february/90014736/

Doña Ana County prosecutors intending to retry Tai Chan for murder in the October 2014 shooting death of Santa Fe County sheriff’s deputy Jeremy Martin are seeking a new retrial date, court records show.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Gerald Byers Byers said prosecutors had “subpoenaed and produced” 21 out-of-state witnesses for the initial trial, at a cost of about $12,400. Byers said prosecutors anticipate that “numerous” out-of-state witnesses will again be required during the retrial.

Byers said the holidays would make it “extremely difficult to arrange for travel of these witnesses,” noting that time of the year “is one of the heaviest, if not the heaviest period for travel.”

He said he believes many of the witnesses have already made other travel plans for the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. He also argued that travel expenses and hotel accommodations would be “much higher than other time of the year,” and that it would be more difficult to impanel a jury.
 
Chan appears in court for hearing on retrial

http://www.lcsun-news.com/story/news/crime/2017/03/27/chan-appears-court-hearing-retrial/99713584/

Chan, now 30, appeared in court with his attorneys, John Day, Tom Clark and Monnica Garcia, who entered her appearance in the case earlier this month.

Day and Deputy District Attorney Davis Ruark, of the 3rd Judicial District Attorney’s Office, both confirmed that the case would not be resolved in any manner outside of the retrial, which is scheduled to begin May 8 before Judge Fernando R. Macias.

During Monday’s hearing, Ruark said prosecutors expect to call as many as 54 witnesses to testify during the retrial. Nearly 60 witnesses testified for the prosecution during the first trial. Clark said the defense was planning to call 10 to 11 witnesses to testify.

The judge ordered the parties to submit their final witness and exhibit lists on April 12.

Much of the hearing was spent discussing the logistics of special jury questionnaire. The judge indicated that about 250 potential jurors would be summoned to fill out the special questionnaire.
 
Judge rejects Chan's motion to drop case

http://www.lcsun-news.com/story/news/crime/2017/04/24/judge-rejects-chans-motion-drop-case/100848676/

A state District Court judge in Las Cruces denied a motion last week from accused murderer Tai Chan to dismiss his case over allegations of “outrageous government conduct,” court records show.

Three other motions filed by Chan's attorneys also were denied last week, including one filing that called to disqualify District Attorney Mark D’Antonio and his office from prosecuting the case.

A fifth motion, meanwhile, was partially granted, allowing Chan’s attorneys to re-interview the case’s lead detective, Irma Palos of the Las Cruces Police Department, who has alleged in a whistle-blower lawsuit that she was denied resources to properly investigate the fatal shooting that led to Chan’s arrest on Oct. 28, 2014, at the Hotel Encanto in Las Cruces.
 
Chan, prosecutors hash out final details before retrial

http://www.lcsun-news.com/story/news/local/courts/2017/04/28/chan-prosecutors-hash-out-final-details-before-retrial/101045838/

Most of Friday’s hearing was devoted to narrowing down the list of potential jurors. After meeting behind closed doors, the defense and prosecution whittled down the pool of potential jury panelists to 99. All perspective jurors will be summoned to the courthouse on May 8 for the jury selection process.

Witness lists also were discussed at length during Friday’s hearings.

The defense is expected to call up to 12 witness to testify, according attorney Tom Clark, who is representing Chan along with John Day and Monnica Garica. Many high-profile names — including District Attorney Mark D’Antonio and Las Cruces police Chief Jaime Montoya — appear on the defense's latest witness list.

During the first trial, prosecutors called nearly 60 to testify against Chan. On Friday, D’Antonio said he expected prosecutors to call around the same number of witnesses during the retrial.
 
Jury selection for Tai Chan trial starts Monday

The jury was deadlocked. Now, one year later, the former Santa Fe deputy accused of shooting and killing his partner starts again Monday.

Former Santa Fe Deputy Tai Chan is accused of shooting and killing his partner Jeremy Martin in 2014. 99 potential jurors will be at Dona Ana County District court. Only 12, along with several alternates will serve on the jury.

In the end, only one juror believed it was first degree murder. The others were split between second degree murder and voluntary manslaughter. The judge declared a mistrial. The district attorney's office said it stood by its case. Chan's defense attorney stood by his client, saying what happened that night was self defense.

Timeline of the Tai Chan case
 
Jury to tour crime scene in Chan’s retrial

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/jury-to-tour-crime-scene-in-chan-s-retrial/article_929167ef-1de1-5259-8c27-60fb33525575.html

Jurors in the retrial of a former Santa Fe County sheriff’s deputy accused of murdering a fellow deputy in 2014 will go on a tour of the hotel where the shooting took place.

After nearly eight hours Monday, a 15-member jury — which includes three alternates — was selected to hear the case against Tai Chan, 30, who is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Jeremy Martin, 29, on Oct. 28, 2014.

Opening statements in the retrial were scheduled for Tuesday morning. Afterward, the jury will visit Hotel Encanto and tour the seventh-floor hallway and Room 711, which Chan and Martin shared.

According to a motion filed by District Attorney Mark D’Antonio, the tour of the hotel is expected to last about 30 minutes. Neither the prosecution nor the defense will provide commentary during the tour, the motion states.

One prosecutor, one defense attorney and Chan will be present during the tour.

The trial is being live-streamed:

http://lawnewz.com/live-trials/live-trials-current/tai-chan-murder-trial/watch-live-opening-statements-in-tai-chan-murder-trial-day-1/
 
Martin's wife takes stand in Tai Chan trial

Chan accompanied the 15-member jury to the Hotel Encanto for a tour of the alleged crime scene in the afternoon. Chan and Martin, both deputies with the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office, had planned to stay at the hotel after transporting a prisoner to Arizona.

Jurors were bused to the hotel in two vehicles around 1:45 p.m. and spent less than an hour touring the lobby and seventh floor. They were joined by Chan, one of his attorneys and District Attorney Mark D’Antonio. The jurors also toured the room that Chan and Martin shared, rode the elevator Martin used after being shot five times and viewed the stairwell where Chan was found after the shooting.

Sarah Martin did eventually testify. She spoke later in the afternoon and told the jury that she met Martin in a youth group when they were teenagers. They were married for 12 years and had four children, she said.

She teared up when prosecutors showed her a picture of Martin, and she also paused when she was asked to identify Chan by name. She told the jury that the last time she heard from Martin was at 11:49 p.m. Oct. 27, about a half-hour before he was shot five times.

Before Martin's wife was called to the witness stand, Major Gabriel Gonzales of the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office testified for about an hour.

Gonzales spoke about Chan and Martin’s duties at the sheriff’s office, saying that Martin worked on patrol and that Chan was on the SWAT team. He also revealed that Martin was not supposed to accompany Chan on the trip to transport the prisoner to Arizona.

Chan’s partner had become sick, and Gonzales said he asked Martin to assist Chan on the extradition. Martin agreed, Gonzales said, adding that it was in Martin’s character to help others.

Tai Chan jurors see gun, hear from hotel guests

The pace of testimony picked up considerably on Wednesday. Six hotel guests testified in succession, each recalling the night of the shooting and describing in detail what they heard in the moments leading up to the gunfire and the aftermath. One guest said he encountered a bloodied Chan wielding a gun after the shooting. That gun was displayed before the jury on Wednesday.

Chan fired 10 gunshots at Martin during what police described as an alcohol-fueled argument shortly after midnight on Oct. 28. Martin was struck five times — twice while in a seventh-floor room and three times as he fled down a hallway — and died at a Las Cruces hospital. Chan's attorneys claim self-defense.

Edward, of Manhattan, Kansas, testified that he was awoken by the sounds of a heated argument coming from Room 711 — the room Chan and Martin were sharing. Edward was in Room 709, he said.

Not long after, Edward said he heard a cry of disbelief — “Oh my God!” — then a single gunshot, followed by a “volley” of gunshots. A brief pause followed, but it was immediately shattered by a second “volley” of rapid gunfire, he said.

Another hotel guest, Mary, of Woodland Hills, California, who was staying in Room 713 with two friends, also testified that she was awoken after hearing a loud "rumble" and a door being slammed.

The next thing she heard was a man yelling “Get the f--- out of here!"

“Immediately after those words,” she said, “I heard three rapid-fire gunshots, a slight pause and then I think four or five more gunshots.”

She said the second round of shots sounded “more deliberate,” like the shooter was “taking more time to aim.”
 
Hotel guard offers inconsistent testimony in Tai Chan retrial

Before the shooting, Zamora said he encountered a frantic Martin searching for Chan around 10:30 p.m. Martin, he said, left the hotel but returned sometime later with one of his arms wrapped around Chan. They entered an elevator from the lobby, Zamora said, but it appeared as if they were arguing.

Around midnight, Zamora and another man, Robert Corral, an off-duty security guard, went to the hotel’s seventh floor to make security rounds, Zamora said. Minutes later, he said, they were startled by a crashing noise. Zamora said he immediately took cover behind a pillar and heard more “loud bangs,” followed by screaming.

He then saw Martin running toward the elevator. “He was running towards me, and then I saw Tai Chan following him,” Zamora said, adding that Martin was bleeding on his right shoulder and cried out, "Call 911."

Next, he said, he saw Chan “come out of the room” with a gun that he was “pointing upwards.”

But when Zamora spoke to police around 2 a.m., he never mentioned that he saw an armed suspect during the gunfire. He also did not report the encounter with the suspect in an incident memo that he later drafted for his employer. In both cases, he also never indicated that he heard Martin cry out, “Call 911,” as he did during his testimony on Thursday. (The latter conflicts with testimony from previous witnesses who believe it is was Chan who made that cry.)

Prosecutors first addressed Zamora’s inconsistencies during direct examination. Zamora told prosecutors that he neglected to tell police about seeing Chan in the hallway because “he didn’t want to be there (at the hotel).” When he was asked to be more specific, he couldn’t offer a further explanation, only saying “I don’t know.”

He also said he had rushed to write his report about the incident for his employer and failed to include that he saw Chan in the hallway. Later, it was revealed that his original handwritten report had been lost or destroyed. But a typed version of the report had been preserved.

Under cross examination, Zamora was read portions of his statement to police by defense attorney Tom Clark. Zamora told police that he “technically” only “saw the victim” after he heard four gunshots and fled into the stairwell.

“That’s very different from what you’re saying today,” Clark said. In response, Zamora told jurors: “Kind of.” But he later told jurors that he was being truthful during his testimony.

Photos, phone logs entered into evidence in Tai Chan retrial

Sgt. Todd Froats, a now-retired 19-year veteran of the Las Cruces Police Department, was among the first officers on the scene and recounted going to the seventh floor of the hotel where he entered Room 711, the room the deputies shared and where the shooting began. Froats said he and other officers went to the seventh floor to determine if there were additional victims or suspects. They found the door to Room 711 closed and locked before gaining access with a hotel pass key.

During testimony, Froats detailed securing the stairwell which ran from the basement to the seventh floor and to a roof access and stationing officers throughout the seventh floor hallway and the stairwell until detectives arrived on the scene. He referred to the scene at the hotel as "controlled chaos."

He testified that Chan appeared "impaired" during questioning, and talked about "people floating in the air" and "people in sweaters floating in the parking lot" and "people trying to get him." Froats also said Chan made a reference to a bomb in the building. He said he did not notice an odor of alcohol on Chan's breath when they spoke "at arms length.

LCPD Officer Jonathan Boehne recounted going up the stairwell when he encountered Chan. Boehne said he did not smell alcohol but believed Chan was under the influence of alcohol or "something else" because he was not responding coherently to questions.

Boehne said Chan was "disengaged" during questioning and kept looking at the door to room 711 and saying "Don't go in there, it's dangerous. They have guns."

Bohene also characterized Chan's behavior as "very, very weird" and said Chan was "not on planet Earth" during questioning.

LCPD officer Max Weir, a cell phone forensics specialist, detailed how a phone belonging to Martin was examined and call records retrieved. He outlined a series of text messages between the two deputies, beginning at 10:40 p.m. from Chan to Martin asking "where are you." A response came at 10:42 stating "outside having a chew." At 10:43 Chan responded "Thank God, bud. I've been so worried." Also at 10:43 p.m., a message from Martin's phone to Chan stated "anyways."
 
Omitted Tai Chan statements spark controversy

http://www.lcsun-news.com/story/news/crime/2017/05/15/omitted-tai-chan-statements-spark-controversy/101732854/

Discrepancies between an audio recording of Tai Chan, made soon after he shot his colleague in late October 2014, and a transcript made from the recording for courtroom purposes sparked controversy during the sixth day of a high-profile murder retrial.

At issue, Chan's attorneys said, is that the audio file, which was trimmed from its original roughly seven hours, left out a few "exculpatory" statements, including a claim by Chan that his colleague, Jeremy Martin, attempted to kill him.

Jurors began the day by hearing the audio file, which was recorded the night of the killing by a Las Cruces Police Department officer, played in the courtroom. They also had transcripts with which to follow along. A while into the recording, jurors were puzzled by a lack of coordination between the two. And one of Chan's attorneys, John Day, soon interrupted the playback.

During one of the omitted statements, Chan said that he got shot at and "he tried to kill me; he tried to kill me." Chan also said: "I was so scared for my life." Other omitted audio included inaudible comments by speakers as well as a reference to Chan having a nosebleed while in custody.

Macias declined to dismiss the case, saying he believed there was "minimal" impact to the jurors, who'd only encountered one of the omitted portions prior to the playback being halted. Rather, Macias said he wanted a complete audio file — one that exactly matches the transcript — to be created.

Jurors also were shown photos of the bedroom floor located near the room's entrance, where four casings — spent ammunition — were found, an indication the weapon had been fired in the vicinity, Torres said. A fifth casing was found on the opposite side of the room, consistent with the first gunshot, he said.

When standing inside the room looking toward the hallway, a bullet hole was located on the left side of the door frame. Torres said this was from a bullet that went through the frame, striking Martin in his back as he turned to run down the hotel hallway. Another bullet hole, found in the wall of the room just opposite Room 711, passed through Martin's arm before lodging in the wall. A third bullet hole seen from the same viewpoint passed into the room opposite Room 711 and lodged in a bath towel, according to Torres.

Several ammo casings were located in the hallway near Room 711.

"He does strike him twice as he's running down the hallway," said Torres, referencing Chan firing at Martin. "We have five shell casings in the room; we have five shell casings in the hallway."

Clark raised questions about the LCPD investigation, such as why a black substance on Martin's hands at the time he died wasn't tested by investigators. Also, he asked Torres why he'd relied only on a new technology, a laser scanner, to record the spatial arrangement of the room and hadn't done in-person measurements.

Torres said the technology was new at the time of the investigation, but is very accurate.

Clark asked Torres if a nosebleed Chan had the night of the incident was consistent with being hit. Torres said it was.
 

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