Jury acquits 20-year-old in 2024 shooting death at Central Avenue bus stop

A jury this week acquitted a 20-year-old man in the fatal shooting last year of Eric Purley at a Central Avenue bus stop during a confrontation captured on security video.

A defense attorney told jurors last week that Joshua Eli Dickens shot Purley, 46, in self-defense after the larger, intoxicated man approached Dickens aggressively with a metal baton.

The 2nd Judicial District Court jury on Monday found Dickens not guilty of first-degree murder and tampering with evidence in Purley’s death. The verdicts followed a six-day trial before Judge Clara Moran.

Prosecutors argued that Dickens had an opportunity to walk away from the confrontation but instead walked several steps back to the bus stop, then drew a handgun and fatally shot Purley in the chest.

Dickens, who was 18 at the time, was living in a car when police arrested him about a month after the killing, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.

Dickens’ attorney, Graham Dumas, said Tuesday that the criminal case appears to have reconnected ties between Dickens and family members, who attended each day of the trial.

Albuquerque police found Purley fatally shot at 10:45 a.m. on May 18, 2024, lying outside a bus stop shelter in the 6800 block of Central, across from Expo New Mexico.

Jurors repeatedly viewed security video that showed Dickens walk past the bus stop shelter, then stop and walk back several steps to confront Purley outside the shelter.

The two appeared to exchange words before Dickens fired a gunshot at Purley, who collapsed on the sidewalk on Central near Indiana, the video showed. Dickens then ran west on Central.

Monique Otero, a friend of Purley’s, testified last week that she and Purley had planned to attend a flea market at Expo New Mexico that morning but she abandoned the plan because Purley was intoxicated.

Purley got out of Otero’s car and crossed Central Avenue in the middle of the block, she testified. Security video showed that a vehicle had to swerve into another lane to avoid striking Purley, who then walked to the bus stop minutes before he was killed.