Trial begins in 2023 killing of transgender woman

Jose Mendoza Espinoza admits killing Sherlyn Marjorie in 2023 but contends the transgender woman threatened to expose their relationship and extorted money from him, his attorney told jurors on Monday.

Although Marjorie’s death was undoubtedly a homicide, defense attorney Matthias Swonger said, “the law defines some kinds of homicides as murders and uses other terms to define other homicides.”

Opening statements began Monday in the trial of Mendoza Espinoza, 30, who is charged with first-degree murder in the death of the woman with whom he acknowledged having a long-term sexual relationship.

Testimony is expected to begin Tuesday in the 2nd Judicial District Court trial which is scheduled through Friday before Judge Emeterio Rudolfo.

Prosecutors told jurors Monday that Mendoza Espinoza intentionally killed Marjorie and later made efforts to conceal the crime by hiding her body in a drainage tunnel.

“You are going to hear evidence of an intentional killing and an intentional cleanup,” prosecutor Derek Berg told jurors on Monday.

Marjorie was last seen by friends on Sept. 16, 2023 — the day before the alleged killing.

Her friends and family members found her body 10 days later in a drainage tunnel under Central at 136th SW in far west Albuquerque. The group began searching for Marjorie after finding her vehicle at a Love’s Travel Stop off Interstate 40 and Atrisco Vista SW.

Mendoza Espinoza’s attorney, Swonger, suggested that at the end of the trial he will ask jurors to acquit Mendoza Espinoza of first-degree murder and instead convict him of a lesser charge.

“I’m going to tell you up front that my client, Jose (Mendoza Espinoza), did kill Sherlyn Marjorie,” Swonger told jurors. “You’re going to hear that Jose was married, had two young boys, but that he would seek out sexual relationships outside of his marriage with both men and women.”

Swonger said his client’s relationship with Marjorie became “toxic” when she began demanding money in exchange for concealing their relationship.

“She starts threatening to expose their relationship and the really intimate details of Jose’s sex life to his wife if Jose doesn’t pay her,” Swonger told jurors. “The demands get greater and greater, the threats become more and more serious, and he keeps on paying and paying her.”

The grand jury indictment charges Mendoza Espinoza with first-degree murder but provides jurors with the option of convicting him of second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter. He also faces six counts of tampering with evidence.

Swonger acknowledged that some jurors may feel uncomfortable with the nature of Mendoza Espinoza’s relationship with Marjorie.

“Sherlyn (Marjorie) was a trans woman and Jose (Mendoza Espinoza) is a bisexual man,” Swonger said. “That might be difficult for a lot of us to relate to. But ultimately, this is a human relationship between two people who, like everyone else, have their flaws.”

Berg said jurors will view portions of Mendoza Espinoza’s interview with Bernalillo County Sheriff’s investigators following his arrest in which he described his relationship with Marjorie and acknowledged that he “snapped” and struck her.

Investigators wrote in a criminal complaint that Mendoza Espinoza admitted having a two- to three-year relationship with Marjorie.

Mendoza Espinoza also told deputies he had sex with Marjorie before she extorted him outside his mobile home on Sept. 17, 2023, according to the complaint. He said they argued and “he flipped out” and beat her to death, it said.

Mendoza Espinoza told investigators that he bound her with tape, hid her body in a tunnel, left her car at the gas station and threw both his and her cellphones into the mesa, the complaint said.