Georgia man to be kept behind bars until trial in Taos homicide

One of the men charged in the slaying and dismemberment of Army veteran Matthew McLaughlin near Taos will be held in jail until trial, an 8th Judicial District Court judge ruled on Tuesday.

During preliminary and pretrial detention hearings, Chief Judge Emilio Chavez said the state had presented “substantial evidence” to support charges of first-degree murder and other felonies against 23-year-old Rainor Joiner.

A video of a detailed confession Joiner made to the Taos County Sheriff’s Office was played before the court on Tuesday and figured heavily in the evidence that prosecutor Jonathan Gardner presented during the hearings.

In the video, Joiner described shooting McLaughlin, 25, repeatedly before dismembering his body. He then discussed putting McLaughlin’s body in trash bags and buckets, which he disposed of around Tres Piedras.

“After shooting him in the chest, I ran up and (expletive) shot him in the head twice,” Joiner appeared to admit on the video and later described how he valued the life of “animals more than humans.”

Joiner said he plotted to murder McLaughlin after developing a grudge against him while living together in a small adobe home in the Taos County community. Investigators say a third roommate, David Degroat, 22, also confessed during an Aug. 17 search of the residence that he had conspired with Joiner to kill McLaughlin.

Degroat is charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, a second-degree felony, and tampering with evidence. Hearings in his case are scheduled for Sept. 15 at 9 a.m. in Taos District Court.

According to court records, the three men had served in the same Army platoon together at Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia. Investigators have alleged that Joiner and Degroat were wanted for desertion, but Joiner’s defense attorney, Thomas Clark, said on Tuesday that he had yet to see clear evidence his client had gone AWOL from the military.

Arguing that Joiner would be a danger if released before trial, investigators said on Tuesday they had recovered several Army-issued firearms and armor piercing rounds during their search of the Tres Piedras residence. Among the weapons they confiscated was a Beretta handgun and the sheriff’s office said Joiner admitted to using it to fire the shots that killed McLaughlin.

Lead Taos County Sheriff’s Office investigators Donavan Byers and Kevin McCarty also testified on Tuesday. Byers told the court that Joiner admitted to deputies in lapel videos that he had used Degroat’s firearm “to try and force (Degroat) to keep his mouth shut, and then he also used David to assist in the bagging of the remains.”

Joiner faced an original six counts tied to McLaughlin’s death, but Chavez dropped charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and aggravated battery causing great bodily harm.

In his ruling, the judge said the state had not presented evidence of a separate incident from McLaughlin’s slaying to bind over the assault charge. He agreed with Rainor’s defense attorney that the battery charge was redundant in light of the charge of first-degree murder.

“I think it’s a legal question of whether the state has proved separate events of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon,” said Clark, a Santa Fe criminal attorney . “There was no testimony, at least that I heard, that my client assaulted Matthew previously … Then aggravated battery — well, the battery was actually the murder.”

Chavez ruled that Joiner will be held at the Taos County Adult Detention Center while his case is pending with the courts. An arraignment will be held on the charges at a later date in Taos District Court.

“Substantial evidence shows that the state has demonstrated by clear and convincing evidence that no reasonable conditions will keep the community safe if Mr. Joiner was released,” the judge said, “and so I will detain Mr. Joiner at this time.”

Following the hearing, Clark alluded to Joiner’s competency as a looming factor in the case.

“I strongly, strongly believe that competency is going to be an issue,” he told the Journal. “I didn’t have time to talk to my client today, but given some of the things that we saw and kind of his demeanor during his interviews and some of the things that I learned during the hearing, I’m going to have them evaluated right away.”