Trial of two men in 2024 stabbing death ends in mistrial

A judge declared mistrials this week in the trials of two men charged in the 2024 killing of a homeless woman they allegedly caught burglarizing a car outside their Albuquerque apartment.

Prosecutors say they plan to retry Joshua Dominguez, 24, and David Haro, 49, who each face second-degree murder and other charges in the death of 34-year-old Sarah Dimas.

Second Judicial District Judge David Murphy had not scheduled a new trial for either man on Friday.

A third co-defendant, Destiny Marquez, 22, Dominguez’s girlfriend and Haro’s daughter, pleaded guilty in November to charges of second-degree murder and tampering with evidence in Dimas’ death.

Marquez faces 16 years in prison. Her sentencing has not been scheduled.

Joseph Sullivan, Dominguez’s attorney, said the judge declared a mistrial for Dominguez on Tuesday after prosecutors presented inadmissible evidence to the jury.

Nancy Laflin, spokeswoman for the 2nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office, said the inadmissible evidence was included in a PowerPoint slide, but the judge found that “it was not intentionally included in the slide.”

The judge declared a mistrial for Haro because “there was an issue with a juror,” Laflin said. Haro’s attorney, Keren Fenderson, did not respond to a voicemail seeking comment.

Albuquerque police responded to a 911 call shortly before 3 a.m. on March 15, 2024, and found Dimas’ body on Broadway NE, just south of Interstate 40, with stab wounds to her torso, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.

Dimas was living on the streets at the time and police were unable to identify her for weeks after her death, prosecutor Christine Jablonsky said in opening statements.

Before the killing, Marquez and her boyfriend, Dominguez, had returned home to Haro’s apartment in the 300 block of Indian School NE after delivering food for Uber Eats when Marquez saw Dimas removing items from Dominguez’s Honda CR-V, Jablonsky told jurors.

A violent 70-second encounter followed after Dominguez, Marquez and Haro followed Dimas a short distance, ending in Dimas’ beating and stabbing death, she said.

The encounter was recorded on security video viewed by jurors in opening statements Monday. The video shows a chaotic scene as three figures beat, kick and stomp on Dimas.

Prosecutors allege Marquez picked up a knife and stabbed Dimas during the fight. Dominguez, Haro and Marquez then picked up scattered items and drove away.

Sullivan showed jurors a different security video that he said showed Dominguez following Dimas, then turning and walking away. Sullivan said Dominguez was trying to convince Dimas to return items stolen from his car before Dimas threatened him with a knife.

Dominguez then “disengaged” and walked away, Sullivan said.

Dominguez then saw Marquez driving toward Dimas in the Honda CR-V, causing him to turn and follow the car, Sullivan said. Dominguez realized that Dimas was armed with a knife and followed his girlfriend to protect her, leading to a violent encounter with Dimas, he said.