Trial begins in 2020 execution-style killing

Testimony began this week in the trial of two men charged in a 2020 shooting death that prosecutors described as a “home invasion ending in an execution.”

Charles Jermain Robinson, 46, and Walter Palmon Eddings Jr., 40, each are charged with first-degree murder in a case expected to rely heavily on the testimony of three co-defendants.

The 2nd Judicial District Court trial is scheduled through Friday before Judge Jennifer Wernersbach.

Prosecutors allege that the group conspired to rob 33-year-old Antonio Jaramillo, who was found bound by his wrists and ankles and shot once in the head in his Northwest Albuquerque home.

Defense attorneys for the two men told jurors that each of the three witnesses has reached plea deals that require them to testify.

“The state is going to want you to rely on the statements of three convicted felons who are going to tell you three different things,” Robinson’s attorney, Stefanie Gulley, said Tuesday in opening statements.

Albuquerque police found Jaramillo fatally shot on Dec. 16, 2020, in a bedroom of his home in the 2600 block of Eighth NW. Jaramillo’s roommate told police he had gone out to get food and returned to find Jaramillo tied up and shot in the head.

Assistant District Attorney Lawrence Hansen told jurors that Robinson planned the robbery and recruited others for the scheme, including his co-defendant, Reyanon Duncan, a longtime friend of Jaramillo’s.

Duncan, 37, pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and armed robbery in Jaramillo’s killing and faces up to 18 years in prison. Her sentencing hearing is scheduled for Sept. 13.

Robinson also recruited Eddings and another man, Gabriel Joseph Blea, 27, to help carry out the home invasion-robbery, Hansen said.

Blea pleaded guilty in June to charges of conspiracy to commit armed robbery, kidnapping and other charges and faces up to 42 years in prison. His sentencing hearing has not been scheduled.

A third co-defendant, Amber Carlton, 41, testified Wednesday that she drove Robinson to Jaramillo’s house the day of the killing at Robinson’s request.

Carlton pleaded guilty in 2023 to conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary in connection with Jaramillo’s death. Her sentencing has not been scheduled.

Hansen said Duncan arrived first at Jaramillo’s home and left the front door unlocked, allowing Eddings and Blea to enter the house while Robinson remained outside.

Blea and Eddings “stand in the doorway of his bedroom, guns drawn,” Hansen said. “Antonio is ordered to get on the floor. He complies.” The two men removed a gun from the small of Jaramillo’s back, then moved him to another room, he said.

Blea tied Jaramillo by the wrists and ankles, then began stealing electronic devices from the house, Hansen said.

Blea and Duncan were leaving the house, leaving Eddings alone in the room with Jaramillo at the time of the shooting, Hansen said.

“Eddings is the only person in the room with Jaramillo,” Hanson said. “Antonio (Jaramillo) was bound wrists and ankles, and face down.”

Robinson’s attorney, Keren Fenderson, told jurors that Duncan recruited Robinson to help her retrieve her possessions from Jaramillo’s house.

“The plan is to help Ms. Duncan get her belongings safely out of the house,” Fenderson said in opening statements. The prosecution’s case against Robinson relies heavily on Duncan’s testimony, she said.

“She can’t be believed,” Fenderson said of Duncan. “You will hear that she has made a deal with the state to get a reduced sentence in exchange for testimony.”