Jury convicts 18-year-old of first-degree murder

A jury on Thursday convicted 18-year-old Ruben Benavidez of first-degree murder in the 2022 shooting death of his mother’s boyfriend.

Prosecutors said that Benavidez fatally shot 39-year-old Cedric Garcia Guzman during a confrontation between the men in the doorway of Guzman’s apartment.

Benavidez faces a life sentence, which requires him to serve 30 years in prison before he is eligible for parole. His sentencing hearing has not been scheduled before 2nd Judicial District Judge Brett Loveless.

Albuquerque police responded to a report of a shooting on Dec. 17, 2022, and found Guzman shot twice in the stomach in his apartment at 1100 Coal SW. He died at the scene.

A witness told police that Benavidez had become upset because his mother and Guzman were doing drugs together, leading to an ongoing conflict between the two men, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.

Benavidez’s attorney, Michael Rosenfield, argued that the killing lacked premeditation because Benavidez did not go to the apartment with the intention of killing Guzman.

Benavidez, who was 17 at the time of the killing, and his father went to the apartment to speak with Benavidez’s mother and encourage her to come home, Rosenfield said Thursday in a phone interview.

“She had abandoned her two teenaged children for a week and (Benavidez) went to retrieve her,” Rosenfield said.

Jurors viewed security video that recorded the confrontation.

Benavidez and his father first asked to speak with Benavidez’s mother, but Guzman shut the door.

Benavidez then kicked the door twice and Guzman again opened the door. The two men spoke briefly before Guzman spit at Benavidez, he said.

“After about 30 second of jawing with one another, Guzman spit in Ruben’s face,” Rosenfield said. “Within two seconds of spittle landing on his face, Ruben fire two shots from a gun concealed in his hoodie.”

Rosenfield told jurors that Ruben Benavidez didn’t intend to shoot until Guzman spit at him. “It was a reflex,” he said.

Jurors also found Benavidez guilty of two counts of tampering with evidence for concealing his clothing and the gun used in the killing.