FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 2, 2016
Contact: James Hallinan (505) 660-2216
Albuquerque, NM – Today, Attorney General Hector Balderas announced that the New Mexico Supreme Court agreed with the Office of the Attorney General’s Criminal Appeals Division by upholding the first-degree murder conviction of Jesus Joaquin Arredondo-Soto for the 2010 Albuquerque slayings of a mother and her infant son. Arredondo-Soto challenged only his conviction for the mother’s murder.
“The Albuquerque community is grateful that the Supreme Court upheld the conviction in such a brutal and violent crime and our thoughts and prayers with the victims’ family,” said Attorney General Balderas.
The Supreme Court ruled that evidence that the defendant stabbed the victim 26 times and engaged in a prolonged struggle with her supported a finding of his deliberate intent to kill. The Court further ruled that it was not error to let the jury consider relevant photographs from the crime scene and the child’s autopsy. Although the photographs were disturbing, the prosecution had no obligation to “sanitize” the nature of the defendant’s heinous crime.
See attached for a photo of Arredondo-Soto and the Supreme Court decision.
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