Man convicted of killing Taos Pueblo artist sentenced to 10 years, sparking outrage from family

SANTA FE — A Taos Pueblo man was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison Thursday after pleading guilty to using a car in 2021 to run over his longtime girlfriend.

The career of DeAnna Autumn Leaf Suazo, a 29-year-old Diné and Taos Pueblo artist, was just beginning to blossom when her life was cut short during the domestic violence incident.

Santiago Martinez, 33, pleaded guilty last March to voluntary manslaughter as part of an agreement exposing him to 10 to 15 years in prison. Judge Martha Vázquez on Thursday handed down the minimum sentence of 10 years to be followed by three years of supervised release, creating an emotional scene in the courtroom, where several of Suazo's family members were present.

Vázquez also granted Martinez's request to turn himself in a week from Thursday, rather than being taken into custody immediately, so that he could pay off a loan and qualify for a lower-security inmate classification, according to court records.

Martinez read a five-minute statement before the court during the sentencing hearing, according to his attorney, but Suazo's family was inconsolable and expressed publicly their dissatisfaction with the sentence imposed by the judge.

Reached by phone Friday afternoon, Martinez's attorney, federal public defender Devon Fooks, called the case "just tragic all the way around."

"Clearly, DeAnna Suazo was a very special individual and a great New Mexican," he said. "I hope that the sentence can bring some bit of solace to her family."

The Suazos did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and Nora Marjorie Wilson, lead prosecutor on Martinez's case, could also not be reached.

According to court records, Martinez ran over and killed Suazo with his car during an argument on Nov. 13, 2021, outside a home they shared on Taos Pueblo.

The couple had been listening to music and drinking in Suazo's car that day when she "expressed her long-stated desire" to end their romantic relationship, a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office of New Mexico summarized on Friday.

The argument escalated into a physical altercation, in which Martinez ripped an earring from Suazo's ear and pushed her out of her SUV. Martinez got into the driver's seat and ran the up-and-coming artist over.

He then called his family as Suazo succumbed to mechanical asphyxia and blunt trauma, the Office of the Medical Investigator determined during an autopsy.

Despite consuming alcohol, Martinez told authorities that he was cognizant of what he was doing when he ran Suazo over with the vehicle and knew it was wrong.

Before her death, Suazo had been building notoriety in the contemporary Native American art world as a young artist filled with promise.

The daughter of Navajo artist Geraldine Tso and Taos Pueblo painter David Gary Suazo, Suazo's best-known work blended traditional Plains Indians ledger art with figures inspired by Japanese manga. 

Her drawings were exhibited nationwide, including at the Institute of American Indian Arts Museum of Contemporary Native Arts in Santa Fe, which established the DeAnna Autumn Leaf Suazo Memorial Fund to support Indigenous women artists in 2022 following her death.

“We are deeply saddened to acknowledge the loss of DeAnna Autumn Leaf Suazo (Diné/Taos Pueblo), who tragically passed away last weekend,” an Institute of American Indian Arts statement on Facebook read at the time.

John Miller is the Albuquerque Journal’s northern New Mexico correspondent. He can be reached at jmiller@abqjournal.com.