Man convicted of voluntary manslaughter in 2023 killing

A jury on Monday found Christopher Rodriguez guilty of voluntary manslaughter in the 2023 shooting death of a man during a child exchange outside a South Valley fast-food restaurant.

But the 2nd Judicial District Court jury found Rodriguez not guilty of the more serious charge of second-degree murder in the killing of 33-year-old Tristan Isaacs.

Judge Brett Loveless could sentence Rodriguez up to 14 years in prison at a sentencing hearing in September.

Jurors deliberated about four hours Monday after defense and prosecution attorneys in closing arguments offered differing narratives of the events that led to Isaacs’ shooting death.

Prosecutors argued that Rodriguez, 25, invented a self-defense claim after learning from an arrest affidavit that Isaac was armed with a handgun when law enforcement arrived at the scene.

Rodriguez testified last week in his second-degree murder trial that he shot Isaac in self-defense after Isaac ripped opened the door of the car Rodriguez was driving and pointed a gun at his head.

“This is easy,” defense attorney Stephanie Gulley told jurors on Monday. “This is a self-defense case through and through.”

Bernalillo County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a 911 report of a shooting outside the Blake’s Lotaburger near Coors and Arenal SW around 7 p.m. on March 14, 2023.

Deputies found Isaacs lying dead near his Jeep with a 9mm pistol in his hand and multiple shell casings nearby, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.

Prosecutor Christine Jablonsky said in closing arguments that Isaacs didn’t draw his handgun until after he was fatally shot and staggered away from the car Rodriguez was driving.

Jablonsky based her allegation on a recording of a 911 caller who said she saw Isaac pull the gun from his waistband only after he fell to the ground fatally injured by multiple gunshots.

“Mr. Isaacs never had that firearm out while he was engaging with the defendant,” Jablonsky told jurors.

Rodriguez “fabricated this self-defense claim,” Jablonsky told jurors. “He didn’t have a self-defense plan until he read the facts in the arrest warrant. That’s what made him think he could claim self-defense.”

Prosecutors allege that Rodriguez fired at least six gunshots at Isaacs during the dispute and later lied to an investigator, saying he was not at the scene.

Gulley responded in closing arguments that prosecutors offered no evidence that Isaacs didn’t pull his gun until after he was fatally shot .

Deputies who arrived on the scene were hesitant to approach Isaac because he was gripping a 9mm pistol with his trigger, Gulley told jurors.

“He is lying down, his eyes are open and he’s got a gun in his hand,” Gulley said. “Law enforcement don’t even approach him. If that’s enough to give law enforcement officers pause, what would it do to the average citizen?”

The killing occurred during a contentious custody dispute between Isaacs and Rodriguez’s girlfriend, Brittany Sena, over Isaacs and Sena’s 2-year-old daughter, court records show. Emotions were heightened that day by confusion over the time and place of the child’s handoff.

Rodriguez testified Friday that he had dated Sena for nine months, and the two were living together at the time. The day of the killing, Rodriguez said he drove Sena’s white Nissan Altima to the restaurant to pick up the girl from Isaacs.

Gulley told jurors that Rodriguez was disliked by Isaacs and his family and that Isaacs was known to carry a firearm.

Sena told a Bernalillo County Sheriff’s investigator that Isaacs was angry when he arrived at Blake’s Lotaburger, according to the criminal complaint. Isaacs attempted to open the driver’s door of her Nissan, and an argument began between him and Rodriguez, it said.

Sena told deputies that she was removing her daughter from Isaacs’ Jeep when she heard gunshots, then saw Isaacs stumbling back toward his vehicle, where he collapsed, the complaint said.

Rodriguez then drove to an area near Sage and 98th SW, where he cleaned blood off the exterior of the Nissan, Sena told investigators.

Jurors found Rodriguez guilty of tampering with evidence for cleaning blood off the car. But they acquitted him of a charge of child abuse for allegedly shooting in the girl’s direction when he shot Isaac.

Rodriguez is currently serving a prison sentence on federal drug charges. He was sentenced May 29 in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque to 70 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to two counts of distribution of fentanyl.