Attorney General Hector Balderas
AG News:
ALBUQUERQUE — Monday, Attorney General Hector Balderas announced that the New Mexico Supreme Court affirmed the first-degree depraved mind murder conviction of Esias Frank Madrid.
June 26, 2015, Madrid and several others drove to a house party in Albuquerque with firearms to exact revenge on a person who had beaten up a friend of Madrid’s two weeks prior.
Nick Gonzales, who testified for the State, fired two shots into the house and Madrid fired at least four shots, one of which killed the 17-year-old victim Jaydon Chavez-Silver.
“Jaydon Chavez-Silver was an innocent victim whose young and promising life was cut short by Madrid’s complete disregard for human life,” Balderas said. “We are pleased the Supreme Court got it right.”
The New Mexico Supreme Court held that Madrid’s trial attorney provided competent representation at both trial and sentencing and rejected Madrid’s appellate argument that the attorney was constitutionally ineffective; that the jury was appropriately instructed on the lesser-included offense of second-degree murder and all the elements of depraved mind murder; and that the State presented sufficient evidence of Madrid’s subjective knowledge that his acts were greatly dangerous to the lives of others.
This case was prosecuted by the Second Judicial District Attorney’s Office. John Kloss of the Criminal Appeals Division of the New Mexico Office of the Attorney General represented the State on appeal.
Editor’s note: First Degree Depraved Mind Murder Universal Citation: NM Stat § 30-2-1 (2019):
A. Murder in the first degree is the killing of one human being by another without lawful justification or excuse, by any of the means with which death may be caused:
(1) by any kind of willful, deliberate and premeditated killing;
(2) in the commission of or attempt to commit any felony; or
(3) by any act greatly dangerous to the lives of others, indicating a depraved mind regardless of human life.
Source: https://law.justia.com