Gutierrez found guilty in shooting case

CLOVIS — A Curry County jury needed two hours Thursday to return a guilty verdict on a 2002 shooting case.

David Gutierrez, 35, was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of Jose Valverde, and immediately following the trial received a life sentence (30 years before the possibility of parole) with a one-year enhancement for use of a firearm.

The trial, which included three days of testimony, weighed largely on whether the jury would convict based almost entirely on testimony or acquit on a lack of physical evidence.

The defense for Gutierrez was that nothing connected him to the shooting other than testimony from two women who wanted retribution for relationships that went south. Defense Attorney James Klipstine also argued investigators ignored other potential explanations for how Valverde ended up dead of a gunshot wound in his boxcar home.

The prosecution argued witnesses had no reason to concoct a story implicating Gutierrez, who had nine years to dispose of evidence between the shooting and 2011, when witnesses finally came forward.

Prosecutors alleged Gutierrez planned to kill Valverde after hearing accusations Valverde years ago molested one of his relatives through marriage. Prior to closing arguments, Gutierrez took the stand as the lone defense witness in the afternoon and denied shooting Valverde. He said he had heard of molestation accusations against Valverde, but he only heard them after Valverde was dead and wasn't sure he believed them.

The Eastern New Mexico News does not routinely name victims of alleged sexual crimes.

"That may seriously offend you," District Attorney Andrea Reeb said of the accusations against Valverde. "That may make you angry. You may think he was a lowlife because he lived in a boxcar. I understand that. But he was a life, and no one person is allowed to determine when that life ends."

Valverde was found April 8, 2002, with either one or two gunshot wounds to the head.

Sandra Aragon, Valverde's sister, briefly spoke prior to sentencing. She said she wished no ill will to Gutierrez, but reminded him he'd live with the shooting for the rest of his life.

The worst part of the years following, Aragon said, was their mother died nearly seven years ago not knowing if there would ever be closure.

"We waited too, too long for all of this," Aragon said. "Finally my brother, and we, have peace."

Following the sentencing, Klipstine said he planned to raise many issues during the automatic appeal first-degree murder convictions receive.

"I think there was a multitude of appellate issues that were raised during the trial," Klipstine said. "I think there are several evidentiary issues the Supreme Court will have to weight. A lot of that deals with missing evidence and evidence that was lost."

"Our feeling as human beings is that something should be done when a person is killed in this fashion," Klipstine said in closing arguments. "That is perfectly understandable. But you took an oath ... you have to set aside your natural impulse to say, 'This poor man is dead, and therefore somebody should pay for it.' You have to set this aside and be a cold, impartial weigher of the facts."

At the beginning of the trial, Reeb said, she told jurors the case would come down to the credibility of witnesses, and, "I submit to you that the credibility of these witnesses was extremely easy to judge."

She noted numerous contradictions between court testimony and statements by family members, and said there was plenty of reason to distrust them.

Klipstine noted a story implicating Gutierrez was inconsistent with the determination Valverde was shot either once or twice, because the witness said she found one shell in the boxcar and he found the others, plural. The prosecution, he said, had no weapon, no getaway car and no DNA or fingerprints connecting Gutierrez because he didn't commit the crime.

Klipstine added that the accusations of molestation didn't make sense, because the alleged victim continued to associate with Valverde over the years.

"There is no evidence that ties that man to that boxcar," Klipstine said, "yet they want you to arrive at a conclusion without a reasonable doubt that he did it."

Reeb countered:

• In 2002, DNA evidence couldn't be submitted until a suspect was named.

• A search of the boxcar only turned up a single print of Valverde, who lived there, so a lack of fingerprints by no means cleared somebody.

• The getaway car was gone after nine years, and the gun was taken apart and buried throughout the city by Gutierrez' family.

Following the sentencing, Reeb said the case's age created concerns.

"The technology is so different from where we are now," Reeb said, "so I wasn't sure how the jury would react."

Other avenues the state failed to pursue, Klipstine said, included a man who failed a polygraph exam about whether he shot Valverde and a story police heard from a prosecution witness in 2002 that Valverde was wanted dead by a California gang.

Reeb said the particular lie detector test implicates 30 percent of people who tell the truth and is hardly reliable evidence, but she didn't have to prove somebody else's innocence as a tenet of Gutierrez' guilt. The gang connection, Reeb said, was most likely a story Gutierrez cajoled the witness into floating as a red herring to investigators.

Gutierrez was immediately sentenced due to a medical issue he may need surgery to treat. He will receive pre-sentence confinement dating back to his May 2015 arrest, but Reeb wasn't sure if the one-year enhancement would be counted before or after the life sentence.