Albuquerque man sentenced to 8 years in 2018 fatal shooting

A man found guilty by a jury of voluntary manslaughter in a 2018 shooting death was sentenced last week to eight years in prison following a lengthy appellate battle that threw out one of his convictions.

Javier Ponce was initially charged with first-degree murder and other charges in the fatal shooting of 28-year-old Nicholas Mendoza. In 2020, a 2nd Judicial District Court jury rejected Ponce’s claim of self-defense, but convicted him on a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence.

Jurors also found that Ponce endangered the lives of two girls, ages 13 and 15, who were standing on a porch outside Ponce’s home at the time he fatally shot Mendoza and convicted him of two counts of child abuse by endangerment, court records show.

District Judge Alisa Hart sentenced Ponce in July 2020 to 12 years in prison.

Ponce appealed both child abuse convictions, arguing that the evidence didn’t support either conviction. The New Mexico Court of Appeals this year affirmed one count of child abuse but reversed the other and remanded the case to the lower court.

District Judge David Murphy on Tuesday vacated a four-year sentence Ponce received for the child abuse charge overturned by the Court of Appeals, and sentenced Ponce to eight years in prison.

Mendoza was visiting his sister at an apartment in the 200 block of 63rd NW near Central on Oct. 26, 2018, when he became involved in an argument with Ponce, who lived in the apartment next door. Ponce fatally shot Mendoza in the chest.

Mendoza’s sister believed Ponce and others had stolen items from her apartment, according to the Court of Appeals opinion. Mendoza was fatally shot when he confronted Ponce about the thefts.

Ponce told detectives that Mendoza had “barged into the apartment” waving a gun, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. But witnesses told police that Mendoza was not armed and didn’t enter Ponce’s apartment.