Man found not guilty of first-degree murder in 2021 killing

A jury on Tuesday acquitted a man of the most serious charges he faced in the 2021 shooting death of a teenager during a Summerfest celebration in Downtown Albuquerque.

Jonathan Martinez, 23, was found not guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the killing of 19-year-old Trevonte Robbins.

Prosecutors alleged during a five-day trial last week that Martinez drove Asad Ahmed Moody to Fourth and Central, where Moody fired at least eight shots from an AK-47, fatally injuring Robbins. A second gunshot seriously injured Robbins’ 16-year-old companion.

Martinez is scheduled to stand trial Oct. 21 for first-degree murder and other charges in an unrelated killing.

In that case, Martinez is accused of killing his girlfriend, 20-year-old Yasmin Marquez, and driving around with her body in the car for hours before dumping it in a remote area west of Rio Rancho.

In Robbins’ killing, jurors failed to reach verdicts Tuesday on charges of second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit second-degree murder and aggravated battery, raising the possibility that Martinez could be retried on those charges.

Prosecutor David Waymire told state District Judge Bruce Fox that prosecutors “reserve the right” to retry Martinez. Fox said he would schedule a hearing in September or October to discuss how to move forward with the case.

Jurors deliberated a full day on Monday and resumed deliberations Tuesday morning before reaching the verdicts shortly before noon.

Prosecutors told jurors that Martinez and Moody wrongly identified a friend of Robbins as the man who beat Moody a week earlier in Downtown Albuquerque.

Prosecutors alleged that Martinez drove Moody to a site near Fourth and Central, where Moody fired the fatal shots north toward Central Avenue on July 10, 2021.

Prosecutors relied on video recordings, Snapchat and Facebook messages, and cellphone records to show Martinez’s involvement in Robbins’ killing.

Martinez’s attorney, Stephanie Gulley, told jurors in closing arguments Friday that prosecutors never proved that Moody fired the fatal gunshots — an essential element in showing that Martinez was an accomplice.

Gulley also argued that investigators failed to find a video image showing that Martinez drove the car the night of the killing.

Moody, 22, pleaded guilty in May 2023 to second-degree murder and other charges and was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Moody did not testify in Martinez’s trial.

Charges were dismissed in August 2022 against another co-defendant, Darryus Chavez, 25, who prosecutors alleged was in Martinez’s car at the time of the shootings. The charges were dismissed because evidence linking him to the incident was security video that lacked sufficient clarity to identify him, court records show.