Jurors deliberate in 2021 fatal shooting at an Albuquerque methadone clinic

Jurors began deliberations Wednesday in a trial that could test whether a long-term drug user can be convicted of first-degree murder, which requires “willful and deliberate” killing.

Adelio Gallegos, 43, faces charges of first-degree murder and tampering with evidence in the Jan. 25, 2021, shooting death of 63-year-old Mike Guerra outside an Albuquerque methadone clinic.

Both defense and prosecution attorneys devoted much of their closing arguments Wednesday to the question of whether Gallegos deliberately shot and killed Guerra following a “fender-bender” outside the clinic at 123 Madeira SE, south of Central.

Prosecutors allege that Gallegos became enraged after Guerra struck Gallegos’ car, resulting in an argument captured on security video shown repeatedly to jurors during the three-day trial before 2nd Judicial District Judge Courtney Weaks.

Gallegos’ attorney, Keren Fenderson, told jurors that Gallegos should not be convicted of first-degree murder because the longtime drug user did not make a “deliberate” decision to kill Guerra. Fenderson asked jurors to convict Gallegos of second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter — the two lesser included charges in his indictment.

“For you to find him guilty of first-degree murder, you must find that he had not only the intent to kill, but that it was deliberate,” Fenderson told jurors.

“Deliberation requires more than just the intent to kill,” Fenderson said in closing arguments. “It is true that Mr. Gallegos did an intended act. He pointed a gun at someone. He shot someone and Mr. Guerra is dead.”

Gallegos testified last week that at the time of the killing he had been using the opioid drugs methadone and fentanyl, in addition to cannabis and Xanax, a benzodiazepine. Because of his drug use, Gallegos said he was not aware of shooting Guerra and had not realized that he had killed the older man until his arrest in January 2022, nearly a year after the killing.

Prosecutors argued that Gallegos was an experienced drug user who remembered the events clearly when he was interviewed by an Albuquerque police detective at the time of his arrest.

Gallegos “had been a long-term addict on methadone for 10 to 12 years,” Assistant District Attorney Christine Jablonsky told jurors. “When you’re an addict like that, you take drugs just to keep from crashing. You take drugs, just to survive the day. But you can function.”

Security video showed that after a brief encounter between Guerra and Gallegos, the two parted ways for 17 seconds while Gallegos retrieved a rifle from the floorboard of his car, which he used to fatally shoot Guerra in the stomach, Jablonsky said. Guerra later died in a hospital.

“He had 17 seconds to make that choice on whether or not to murder Mike Guerra,” Jablonsky said. “Seventeen seconds is a lot of time to decide to end another person’s life.”

The video also shows that Gallegos ran to his car immediately after the fatal shooting and fled the scene, Jablonsky said.