Jury acquits Julian Montoya in 2023 shooting death

Shortly before he died in surgery from a gunshot wound, David Fierro identified his attacker by the name “Julian Candelaria” in a recorded statement played for jurors in a trial this week.

Jurors on Friday acquitted the man accused in the crime, Julian Montoya, 26, of first-degree murder, rejecting the arguments of prosecutors that Montoya was the person Fierro identified in his dying declaration.

Montoya’s acquittal followed a weeklong trial in 2nd Judicial District Court that hinged largely on witness testimony, including that of Montoya’s visually impaired nephew who was 5 years old at the time of the 2023 shooting death.

A Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office deputy recorded Fierro’s final statement as he was being wheeled into surgery at University of New Mexico Hospital shortly after he was shot on Nov. 16, 2023. In that recording, Fierro identified his attacker as “Julian Candelaria.”

Montoya’s attorney, Lisa Torraco, said in closing arguments Friday that jurors needed to take Fierro’s statement at face value.

“He made it very clear it wasn’t Julian (Montoya),” Torraco said after the verdict. “It was Julian Candelaria. You just have to honor David Fierro’s last words.”

Defense attorneys argued during the weeklong trial that prosecutors lacked evidence to convict Montoya in Fierro’s killing. They also said investigators never sought anyone named Julian Candelaria.

“There is no credible witness that places Julian Montoya in the home that night,” Montoya’s other attorney, Megan Mitsunaga, told jurors in opening statements. “There is no physical evidence that supports the state’s theory.”

Jurors began deliberating about 9 a.m. Friday and returned their verdict about 1:30 p.m. Testimony began Monday before Judge Cindy Leos.

Deputies responded about 11:15 p.m. on Nov. 16, 2023, to reports of a disturbance in the 2500 block of Cuatro Milpas SW, near Blake and Isleta, deputies wrote in a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.

Deputies alleged that Montoya found Fierro in his sister’s bed and fatally shot him, the complaint said. Fierro was transported to UNMH, where he died in surgery.

Mitsunaga also told jurors to remain skeptical about witnesses for the prosecution, including Montano’s nephew, who is now 7 years old.

“He is, for all intents and purposes, legally blind,” she said. “He has virtually no vision in one eye, extremely limited vision in the other. He was asleep down the hallway in a different bedroom.”