NMSC News:SANTA FE ― The state Supreme Court Friday upheld the convictions of an Albuquerque man for the kidnapping and murder of a Bernalillo County man in 2014.
Trinidad Gallegos was sentenced to life in prison plus 19 years for the shooting death of Sergio Bickham, whose body was found in a tunnel underneath Interstate 40 near a casino west of Albuquerque.
In a unanimous decision, the state’s highest court rejected arguments by Gallegos that he failed to receive a fair trial because of what he claimed were mistakes by the trial court and his defense attorney.
Gallegos contended that the testimony of a key prosecution witness, Charles Cordova, should have been excluded because of the late disclosure of an agreement in which prosecutors would not use Cordova’s testimony against him at his own trial.
The victim was kidnapped at a gasoline station in Albuquerque. Cordova testified that he drove Gallegos and the victim on I-40 toward the Route 66 Casino, but they exited and stopped at an underpass. Gallegos and Bickham got out of the car, walked through the underpass panel to the other side while Cordova stayed in the car. Cordova stated that he heard at least one gunshot and then Gallegos returned with a gun in his hand. They returned to Albuquerque without Bickham.
“Defendant was not prejudiced by the state’s late disclosure of the agreement because the trial court permitted defense counsel to question Cordova outside of the jury before she cross-examined him at trial,” the Supreme Court said in an opinion written by Justice Barbara Vigil. “Additionally, defense counsel had access to all other evidence before trial, including Cordova’s version of events. Therefore, the trial court’s decision not to exclude Cordova’s testimony and instead fine the State for its tardy disclosure of the immunity use agreement was within its broad discretion to impose appropriate discovery sanction.”
The trial court fined the prosecution $275 — $25 for every month that the state failed to disclose the agreement to the defense.
The Supreme Court concluded it was “harmless error” that the trial court allowed testimony by a police officer concerning an anonymous tip about Gallegos hiding a possible murder weapon. The Court noted that the prosecution did not mention the tip during closing arguments to the jury, and there was testimony about cell phone location that placed Gallegos near the scene of the killing.
“There was substantial evidence independent of the anonymous tip upon which the jury likely relied in coming to its guilty verdict” on the murder charge, the Court said. “The most incriminating evidence against Defendant was Cordova’s eyewitness testimony of the events before and after the killing.”
