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Young man sentenced to 30 year in 2021 killing
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A judge on Thursday sentenced Santiago Silva to 30 years in prison for fatally shooting a man behind a Central Avenue convenience store in 2021, court records show.
A jury in December convicted Silva, 19, of first-degree murder, armed robbery and tampering with evidence in the killing of 23-year-old Matthew Chavez.
Jurors deliberated less than a day before reaching their verdicts on the fourth day of Silva’s trial in 2nd Judicial District Court.
Judge Brett Loveless sentenced Silva to 33 years in prison but suspended three years. Silva can receive four days of good time for each month he serves.
Albuquerque police, who responded to reports of a shooting shortly after midnight on July 29, 2021, found Chavez lying in an alley behind the Quick Track gas station at 1720 Central SE, on the southwest corner of University and Central. Chavez died at the scene.
At his trial, Silva argued that he fatally shot the unarmed Chavez in self-defense.
Silva’s attorney, Brian Pori, told jurors that Silva, then 17, fired after two larger, older men approached him in an alley and asked Silva if he had “blues” — a slang term for fentanyl.
Jurors viewed security camera video of a three-minute encounter between the three men.
After one of the men walked out of view, Silva and Chavez had a brief exchange in which Chavez appeared to pull items out of his pockets before Silva drew a weapon from his hoodie and fired.
