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Man sentenced to 26 years in fatal shooting in Northwest Albuquerque
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A judge this week sentenced Chase Cuffie to 26 years in prison after jurors convicted him of emerging from a storage closet in his ex-girlfriend’s apartment and fatally shooting a man who tried to run from the residence in 2023.
A jury in March found Cuffie, 41, guilty of second-degree murder and three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in the April 15, 2023, killing of 28-year-old Craig Lee Dixon of Albuquerque.
But the 2nd Judicial District Court jury rejected the most serious charge of first-degree murder following a weeklong trial before Judge Brett Loveless.
Prosecutors argued that Cuffie had “an obsession” with his ex-girlfriend, Dominique Navarro, and drove to her residence at West Park Apartments, near Paradise and Eagle Ranch NW, with the intention of killing Navarro. Cuffie hid in a storage room off the patio for about 20 minutes before he stepped out and pointed a gun at Navarro, Assistant District Attorney Ashlee Mills said in closing arguments.
Cuffie turned his attention to Dixon, a friend of Navarro’s, when Dixon attempted to flee the apartment, Mills said. Cuffie fired about eight gunshots, fatally wounding Dixon, Mills said.
Cuffie’s attorney, Stephanie Gulley, told jurors in closing arguments that someone other than Cuffie fired the fatal gunshots. The gunman had a shirt wrapped around his head, but Gulley said police identified him as Cuffie based on the word of Navarro and a second witness.
