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Thursday, July 03, 2008

Shooting Suspect Could Get 1½ Years in Plea Deal

By Laura Nesbitt
Mountain View Telegraph
      Adam Gutierrez, 25, pleaded no contest in May to aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a fourth-degree felony, for his involvement in a shooting that took place at his home in Moriarty in November.
    The maximum penalty for the charge is up to 1½ years and a $5,000 fine.
    The state dropped three counts of aggravated battery and one count of negligent use of a deadly weapon in exchange for the plea, said Assistant District Attorney Ray Sharbutt.
    Gutierrez could have received 9½ years and $15,500 in fines.
    According to the criminal complaint:
    Gutierrez, Julieta Gutierrez, his sister, and Manuel Ramirez, her boyfriend, had been drinking for most of the day at a residence belonging to Gutierrez on Minnesota Court in Moriarty.
    Julieta Gutierrez told Torrance County sheriff's deputies that she told Ramirez that she wanted to go home and the two began arguing.
    Adam Gutierrez got involved in the argument, which then turned violent when Ramirez was shot three times in the chest and wounded.
    Adam Gutierrez said “no one will hit his sister again,” Julieta Gutierrez told deputies.
    In Estancia Magistrate Court on Dec. 12, Adam Gutierrez told the court he had dropped the gun when he “jumped the back fence. I went back to look for it and it wasn't there.”
    Law enforcement officials have never been able to locate the weapon, Sharbutt said.
    A sentencing hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Aug. 26 at district court in Estancia.
   

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