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Woman enters plea in 2021 killing at Albuquerque hotel
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A woman arrested last year in connection with a killing at a Northeast Albuquerque hotel pleaded no contest Friday to one count of shooting at or from a motor vehicle.
Anjanette Martinez, 31, was indicted in December 2022 for first-degree murder and other charges in the shooting death of 18-year-old Miguel Sanchez. That charge was apparently dismissed under the plea agreement.
Martinez’s attorney, Ashley Reymore-Cloud, could not immediately be reached for comment Friday.
The no-contest plea was entered in 2nd Judicial District Court before Judge Emeterio Rudolfo.
Martinez’s codefendant, Matthew Martinez, 28, is scheduled for trial Jan. 8 on charges of second-degree murder, shooting at or from a motor vehicle and conspiracy.
Albuquerque police responded around 2:30 a.m. on April 17, 2021, to a shooting at the Quality Inn and Suites near Menaul NE and Interstate 25.
Officers found Sanchez behind the wheel of a truck that had crashed into a pillar. Sanchez was injured by a single gunshot and died four days later at a hospital.
Sanchez’s girlfriend told police she and Sanchez confronted a woman stealing her belongings from a hotel room, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.
Surveillance video showed the girlfriend confronting a man and a woman before the man got into the driver’s side of an SUV and the woman got into the passenger seat.
The girlfriend told police that Sanchez attempted to prevent the pair from driving away by blocking their SUV, the complaint said. Sanchez was then shot by someone in the SUV, it said.
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Anjanette Martinez told police she was with Matthew Martinez when they were confronted by a woman outside the hotel and a man blocked them in, according to the complaint. She said Matthew Martinez pointed the gun out the driver’s side window and fired it at Sanchez.
Detectives recreated the crime scene with similar vehicles and consulted a forensic scientist, determining that the shots could have been fired from the driver’s or passenger side.
