First Judicial District Judge Jason Lidyard’s courtroom in Tierra Amarilla was prepared for the trial but was empty Monday afternoon. The trial was canceled Monday morning, during the first hours of jury selection. (Photo by Austin Fisher / Source New Mexico)
The attempted murder trial of a man who shot an indigenous activist during a protest against a controversial monument in northern New Mexico was canceled at the 11th hour.
In what local prosecutors consider “a surprising turn of events,” Ryan Martinez said Monday morning did not advocate a contest to an aggravated assault against Jacob Johns and an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon against Malaya Peixinho.
In general, pleading no contest means you agree to the facts laid out by prosecutors, but you do not admit guilt.
Martinez was recorded videotaping Johns, a Hopi, and Akimel O’odham climate activist and artist from Washington state. Johns was there to celebrate the provincial officials’ decision not to reinstall a statue of the genocidal Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate.
First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said Martinez “entered our community, armed with a firearm, to create and incite political discord, which resulted in a violent attack on Mr. Johns and other protesters.”
“This type of violence in our Rio Arriba community will not be tolerated, and I commend the determination and commitment of Mr. Johns and other victims involved in this senseless tragedy,” Carmack-Altwies said, according to a press release from her office.
Marshall Ray, one of Martinez’s attorneys, said he “strongly maintains that he acted in self-defense and never intended to participate in a violent encounter that day.”
“He hopes that entering into this no-contest plea deal will bring closure to all involved and he looks forward to moving on with his life,” Ray said in a statement. statement sent by email.
The deal includes a sentence of nine and a half years, including four years in state prison.
The plea deal means a much shorter sentence than was possible for Martinez, who was confronted charges of attempted murder, assault and reckless driving, along with hate crimes and firearm enhancements.
It remains unclear exactly why prosecutors offered Martinez the deal. One possibility is that they couldn’t have assembled a jury that would find him guilty. The plea deal was struck just a few hours later jury selection started in the business.
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Victims respond
Martinez was the third Trump supporter in New Mexico charged in a politically motivated shooting in as many years, following one 2020 shooting of an Oñate statue in Albuquerque (charges related to the shooting were dropped in that case) and series of shootings at the homes of Democratic officials, allegedly carried out by failed Republican candidate Solomon Peña.
Mariel Nanasi is the civil attorney for the two alleged victims in the case, Jacob Johns and Malaya Peixinho. All three said what Martinez did on September 28, 2023 was a hate crime.
“This was a racially motivated hate crime by a proud MAGA gun with a crazy man who came to a peaceful prayer ceremony with a fully loaded live gun,” Nanasi said. “Martinez put everyone in danger. Jacob and Malaya paid the price with their lives and the entire community is traumatized.”
Nanasi shared one on Monday copy of the email Martinez sent a message to Rio Arriba County’s manager two days before the shooting when he learned that county officials had postponed the statue ceremony. He wrote: “Is the ceremony really canceled tomorrow morning? My statue isn’t coming back?”
No police officers were present at the shooting according to to a Source New Mexico reporter who saw it happen.
“Despite the proximity of the police and their knowledge in advance of Ryan Martinez’s mistaken belief that it was his statue and that Oñate should be resurrected and put on display in the administrative buildings of Rio Arriba County, and, crucially, that they had ‘intelligence’ that violence was likely, Espanola police and Rio Arriba County sheriffs were nowhere to be found,” Nanasi said. “They couldn’t protect us.”
In one statement Johns said Martinez himself was “motivated by hatred,” that the plea deal is “a continuation of colonial violence,” and that the broader criminal trial is “a reflection of the systemic white supremacy that Indigenous peoples face.”
Prosecutors agreed to dismiss the hate crime enhancement, according to the agreement.
“Imagine if I shot someone at a MAGA rally or a Christian prayer service, I would be locked up for life,” Johns said. “And all we did was have a peaceful sunrise ceremony – we went there to pray and our prayers were answered because the Oñate statue is still not up.”
In her own statementPeixinho said the plea deal is lighter than what she thinks is appropriate, “but it shows our desire for conflict resolution.”
“This horrific attempted murder will stay with me for the rest of my life,” Peixinho said. “It traumatized me and my community; some people were afraid to even go grocery shopping or leave the house.”
Since Martinez entered a plea to a misdemeanor charge, he can no longer send, receive, own or possess any firearms or ammunition.
“It is important to understand that in this day and age of escalating gun violence, Ryan Martinez will never be allowed to brandish or possess weapons again,” Peixinho said.
Johns said he was angry but wanted to express that “indigenous prayers and ways of life work.”
“Pueblo people will always stand together and maintain a continuity of resistance against white supremacy and the destruction of the earth,” he said.
