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Journal North: Home | Sports | Opinion | Obits | Entertainment
Saturday, November 14, 2009
7 Years for Fierro
By Vic Vela
Journal Staff Writer
Holding back tears in a state District Courtroom on Friday, James Tenorio spoke of the anguish his family felt inside a hospital last year when they knew their father and "best friend" was about to die.
"We were being forced to hear the last rites be performed when we weren't ready to let go," the teenage San Felipe Pueblo boy said as his two sisters, Adrianne and Dianna, stood by his side.
State District Judge Michael Vigil on Friday sentenced Carlos Fierro, 37, the man responsible for killing William Tenorio, to seven years in prison. But a plea agreement reached before sentencing opens the door for Fierro's release as early as 2 1/2 years from now.
It also means the Tenorio family will not have to go through another trial or worry about an appeal.
Fierro — once a lauded attorney and now a convicted felon — apologized to the family for his actions during the early morning hours of Nov. 26, 2008, when he ran over the victim in a downtown Santa Fe hit-and-run.
"I made a horrible mistake that night and I'll always live with it," an often teary-eyed Fierro said. "With all my heart, I offer you myself. I offer you my sorrow. I ask you for forgiveness."
Fierro also apologized to his own family. "I'm sorry for shaming you," he said. "I'm sorry for shaming everyone that came before me.
"I'm sorry for my terrible judgement from that night."
Vehicular homicide
Fierro admitted during his trial to driving drunk before plowing his black BMW into Tenorio as the victim was walking across the street from the now-defunct WilLee's Blues Club, 401 S. Guadalupe St. He then fled the scene before police caught up with Fierro and arrested him in front of the Santa Fe Community Convention Center.
In the car with Fierro was passenger Alfred Lovato — a State Police sergeant and member of Gov. Bill Richardson's security detail at the time. The two men had been drinking during the hours leading up to the accident.
Lovato faces the same charges Fierro did and will be in court to resume his probable cause hearing on Monday.
Fierro's blood-alcohol concentration afterward was 0.21 percent, nearly three times the state's presumed level of intoxication while driving.
Fierro's attorneys — Jason Bowles and Bob Gorence — told jurors that Tenorio had also been drinking that evening, was wearing dark clothing and was not paying close enough attention to his surroundings.
A jury last month convicted Fierro of vehicular homicide, but was hung with an 11-1 vote on the charge of leaving the scene of an accident. Fierro resolved that matter Friday by pleading no contest to that charge in a deal he reached with prosecutors before the hearing.
In addition to the maximum six-year prison term he received for vehicular homicide, Fierro will serve another year for leaving the scene. That crime carried a potential for three years behind bars, but the plea calls for two of those years to be suspended.
Fierro will receive credit for about a year's time that he was on electronic monitoring.
Under the deal, Fierro will not serve time as a serious violent offender, which requires that an offender serve 85 percent of his sentence. Fierro is eligible for parole after he serves half of his total seven-year sentence, so long as he receives "good time" behind bars.
In exchange for those concessions, Fierro will not pursue an attempt at a new trial or an appeal.
Fierro attorneys had been expected to argue their motion for a new trial before Fierro's sentencing Friday based on issues they had at last month's trial.
During the trial, defense attorneys blasted District Attorney Angela "Spence" Pacheco for prosecutorial misconduct, claiming it was improper for her jury consultant to use the National Crime Information Center to check on the backgrounds of potential jurors.
Defense attorneys also wanted a new trial based on the changed wording of the controversial jury instruction for vehicular homicide. In the original, defense team-authored instruction, the state had to prove that Fierro's actions at the time of the accident "were the significant cause" of Tenorio's death.
When the jury could not reach a verdict after three days of deliberations and raised questions about the instruction, Vigil changed the wording to say a guilty verdict could be rendered if Fierro's acts were only "a significant cause of death" — which is the uniform jury instruction in New Mexico.
Bowles objected to the change and promised a motion for a new trial. With Friday's plea deal, that now goes by the wayside. That's something the attorney said he was OK with, considering the outcome.
"This process was incredibly painful for everyone involved," Bowles said. "Ultimately, the decision was made today that nobody needed another trial."
Pacheco had planned to re-try Fierro on the charge of leaving the scene of an accident, but, after learning of the defense's effort to resolve the matter, she consulted with the Tenorio family.
"They called me Sunday night at home and said, 'We want resolution. We want it to end,' " Pacheco said.
Big career
Fierro was once a legislative counsel to John McCain and Tom Udall. In 2007, he was named Outstanding Young Attorney of the Year by the New Mexico Bar Association. He also served as Don Diego de Vargas at the 1997 Fiesta de Santa Fe.
Before sentencing Friday, Fierro's uncle, Tom Cordova, reminded Vigil that his nephew has been "a productive member of society ... an incredible father of a beautiful 9-year-old daughter."
Fierro's daughter wrote Vigil a handwritten letter in which she said, "My daddy is not a bad man.
"He is very (gentle) and sweet and kind and loving. He is a very (decent) man and would do anything to get out of this mess."
Fierro became emotional when Vigil said his daughter "is a victim" in this case as well. "(She) will be without her dad for a number of years," Vigil said.
The judge acknowledged Fierro's achievements, "which makes this even more tragic for you."
"In one short evening, it all got thrown away," Vigil said.
The normally reserved members of the Tenorio family were emotional at times Friday. Rose Tenorio, William's mother, said that Fierro "left (her son) broken on a city street, in front of horrified witnesses."
She blasted Fierro's trial strategy that pinned much of the blame on Tenorio. "It angered me deeply," she said. "It was an insult."
The mother said the Legislature needs to change the maximum sentencing for the crime Fierro was convicted of. "Six years is not enough," she said. "The sentence should be stiffer for vehicular homicide."
At the end of the hearing, Vigil commended Tenorio's children — James, Adrianne and Dianna — for their behavior at the sentencing.
"Often, a person's worth, you can see through their children," he said. "I'm sure William was looking down at you today and is very, very proud of you," he said.
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