DA seeks to detain teens charged in Española homeless shootings until trial

The 1st Judicial District Attorney's Office filed motions Tuesday to detain until trial two Española teens charged with fatally shooting a homeless woman behind a shopping center and later firing on a man who was walking alone, paralyzing him.

According to grand jury indictments filed last month in Rio Arriba County District Court, Isaiah Nicholas Maestas and Leon Law, both 15, shot 43-year-old Monica Carter at "point-blank range" on a trail behind a North Railroad Avenue shopping center on May 31.

A local obituary indicates Carter was homeless and had two sons.

Law "shot her in the abdomen with a rifle, while Maestas "shot her in the face with a handgun," Chief Deputy District Attorney Arwen Gaddis wrote in the pretrial detention motions filed in court this week.

Maestas and Law are also charged with attempted murder and other counts for allegedly shooting a man later that night, "resulting in that man being permanently paralyzed."

While complete narratives of the allegations were not contained in court documents , Gaddis indicated in her motions that the shootings had been "observed by multiple witnesses."

Law faces charges including first-degree murder, two counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, attempt to commit first-degree murder and unlawful carrying of a handgun by someone under the age of 19, a misdemeanor.

Maestas was indicted on charges including first-degree murder, two counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and attempt to commit first-degree murder.

Both boys were being held without bond at the San Juan County Juvenile Detention Center in Farmington on prior charges alleging they had fired gunshots over the heads of a group of homeless people sleeping outside the Española Pathways Shelter early the morning of May 29.

Hearings on the pretrial detention motions for Maestas and Law will be held on Oct. 10 and 17, respectively.