Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Homicide case resumes after high court ruling

Clara Garcia News-Bulletin Staff Writer; cgarcia@news-bulletin.com

Nearly four years after a Los Lunas man was found incompetent to stand trial for the 2003 murders of his former father-in-law and brother-in-law, and attempted murder of his ex-wife, the New Mexico Supreme Court remanded the matter back to district court for trial.

Elias Chavez, 45, was indicted by a Valencia County grand jury in April 2003 on two counts of murder, one count of attempted murder, two counts of child abuse, aggravated stalking and tampering with evidence.

Chavez was arrested when, police say, the defendant was involved in a domestic dispute with his ex-wife, Elaine Chavez. According to police, Elaine Chavez's father, 71-year-old Paul Artiaga, and his son, 29-year-old son Jerome "Sonny" Artiaga, were stabbed and killed in the incident. Jerome Artiaga died on the way to the hospital.

Police said the Artiagas suffered multiple stab and slash wounds throughout their bodies.

Elaine Chavez was taken to University of New Mexico Hospital with stab wounds to her head. After receiving numerous stitches, Elaine Chavez was treated and released from the hospital.

The stabbing occurred at Paul Artiaga's home on the 300 block of Valle Grande in Los Lunas, where Elaine Chavez had been living. Elias Chavez was apprehended without incident after a two-hour stand-off with SWAT team officers at his house, located around the corner on Verde.

At the time, police said witnesses saw Chavez chase his ex-wife from her home to a neighbor's house, where she was yelling for help. The neighbors then saw the defendant running from the scene towards his home, located about a block south of the incident location.

According to the criminal complaint, a witness told police that the defendant had allegedly committed the stabbing at her home. Two children, a 4-year-old and a 5-year-old, were in the house at the time of the incident, but were not injured.

Elaine Chavez told police that she and Elias Chavez were divorced in December 2002, and a court date regarding child custody issues had been scheduled for the day of the incident. Elias Chavez had been ordered by a district court judge not to have any contact with his ex-wife.

In February 2004, Elias Chavez was found incompetent to stand trial by District Judge William Sanchez. Nine months later, the district attorney's office filed a motion to criminally commit Chavez for the period of time equal to the maximum sentence for the offenses.

During a hearing to redetermine Chavez's competency, Sanchez ordered that Chavez was competent, by a preponderance of the evidence but not by a clear and convincing evidence standard. Because the judge was uncertain of the state law regarding the requisite standard of proof for a redetermination of competency, he found Chavez incompetent to stand trial and suggested an immediate interlocutory appeal to answer the question. The state then appealed.

The Supreme Court found that upon redetermination of competency, the state must prove that the defendant's competency by a preponderance of the evidence and reversed the district court's order and remanded it back.

During a hearing Tuesday, Assistant District Attorney Geoff Nims and Chavez's public defender Steve McIlwain told Sanchez that they will begin working on the case and hopefully bring it to trial within the next six months.

In July 2007, an Albuquerque judge pinned partial liability for the Artiaga's death on two police agencies.

Bernalillo County District Judge Ted Baca filed his findings in a civil lawsuit Elaine Artiaga filed blaming police for not stopping her ex-husband's escalating violence and the deaths. Baca said the victim should receive $9.1 million in damages — mostly from her ex-husband, but a third of it from the Valencia County Sheriff's Department and the Los Lunas Police Department.

In a 25-page document listing his findings, Baca wrote that although Chavez was 65 percent at fault for the deaths, police empowered him by permitting his escalating violence to go unchecked. Regarding the two-year period preceding the attacks, Baca said "all of the defendants failed to do their duties."

Specifically, Baca found that law enforcement failed to properly investigate calls from plaintiffs, failed to provide victims' rights information to family members, failed to arrest Chavez despite probable cause of crimes, and failed to file criminal complaints whenever there was an arrest.

"There was never a single prosecution of (Elias Chavez) for domestic abuse or for violation of the restraining orders brought under the New Mexico Family Violence Protection Act," Baca wrote.

Baca faulted the Los Lunas Police and Valencia County Sheriff's Department for failing to keep track of restraining orders and for not demanding police reports to document abuse so patterns could have been detected. Baca wrote that Los Lunas Police were 25 percent responsible and the Valencia County Sheriff's Office 8 percent at fault for the family's damages.

He assigned 2 percent of the blame to Valencia County Probation and Parole Division of Corrections, which is immune from liability.

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