Jury returns murder conviction in 2023 killing of an Albuquerque transgender woman

A man who admitted strangling Sherlyn Marjorie and binding her head, hands and ankles with tape in 2023 was convicted by a jury Monday of first-degree murder and four counts of tampering with evidence.

Jurors apparently sided with prosecutors who argued that Jose Mendoza Espinoza, 30, had planned to kill the transgender woman and took steps afterwards to hide her body in a drainage tunnel.

Mendoza Espinoza told jurors last week that he killed Marjorie by kneeling on her throat on Sept. 17, 2023, after she attempted to extort money and physically attacked him during a sexual encounter.

The first-degree murder conviction requires Espinoza to serve 30 years in prison before he is eligible for parole. His sentencing hearing before 2nd Judicial District Judge Emeterio Rudolfo has not been scheduled.

Prosecutors argued Monday that Mendoza Espinoza suffocated the 35-year-old woman by wrapping her head in tape, blocking her airways.

“He taped her face to suffocate her,” prosecutor Derek Berg said in closing arguments. “Why would he then tape her up after (choking her) unless he thought she wasn’t dead yet. He was trying to make sure she’s dead.”

Jurors last week viewed autopsy photos showing that Marjorie’s hands and feet were bound and her head was wrapped with red tape that would have prevented her from breathing. A forensic pathologist testified that she died of asphyxiation, either by strangulation or by suffocation.

Prosecutors also rejected Mendoza Espinoza’s explanation that he blacked out while fighting with Marjorie and regained consciousness to find himself kneeling on Marjorie’s neck.

“The truth is that he didn’t black out,” prosecutor Jordan Machin told jurors. “He just doesn’t actually want to tell you or anyone what really happened.”

Mendoza Espinoza’s attorney, Matthias Swonger, asked jurors to reject the prosecution’s theory that Mendoza Espinoza had planned the killing and instead convict him of a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.

“If this killing was the result of careful thought and consideration, Jose (Mendoza Espinoza) would not have committed this homicide inside his own trailer park,” Swonger said Monday in closing arguments. “He wouldn’t have hid the body close to his own home, less than a mile away, within visual distance of his home.”

Marjorie was last seen the day before her death on Sept. 17, 2023.

A large group of her friends and family members found her body 10 days later in a drainage tunnel under Central at 136th SW just north of the trailer park where Mendoza Espinoza lived with his wife and two sons.

“His actions after killing Sherlyn (Marjorie) show panic and show a lack of careful consideration,” Swonger told jurors.

Mendoza Espinoza’s attorneys expressed disappointment with the verdict and said in a written statement they plan to appeal.

“While Mr. Mendoza Espinoza admitted killing the victim, this happened only after he was severely provoked, extorted, and threatened,” the defense attorneys said. “We do not believe that his actions under these circumstances constitute first degree murder.”

Second Judicial District Attorney Sam Bregman cheered the verdict Monday.

“We will continue to hold violent people accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” Bregman said in a written statement. “Our team continues to work extremely hard on difficult cases to bring justice to victims and their family members.”

Swonger told jurors that Marjorie was a transgender woman and Mendoza Espinoza was a bisexual man who had sexual relationships with both men and women outside his marriage. The two had a sexual relationship two or three years, he said.

Marjorie repeatedly extorted money from Mendoza Espinoza and threatened to send sexually explicit photos and videos to his wife if he refused to pay, Mendoza Espinoza testified. The day of her death, Marjorie had demanded $5,000 and became angry after Mendoza Espinoza rejected the demand, he told jurors.

“He is an ordinary man who is barely making ends meet for his family,” Swonger said of Mendoza Espinoza. “He might convince himself that he’d blacked out to avoid thinking about this terrible thing that he’s done.”

Swonger also suggested that Mendoza Espinoza may have wrapped Marjorie’s head with tape “to avoid looking at the person he just killed, a person who he had a very intense relationship with.”