A jury trial has been set in the case of an Oct. 19 drive-by shooting that left a Farmington man dead.
Bryce Trujillo, 18, is facing a second-degree murder charge in the killing of Ethan Thompson, 23, of Farmington.
It is alleged Trujillo was the passenger in a vehicle that had a “small-caliber carbine rifle” in it. When he and alleged driver Emilio Hilliard, 19, of Aztec drove through the Gooding Lane neighborhood near West Main Street, it is believed Trujillo used that rifle to shoot Thompson in the head, killing him, according to court records.
District Judge Daylene Marsh set the five-day trial to begin Sept. 16 after Deputy District Attorney Michael Sanchez asked to have the case “pushed out.”
“We do not have all the discovery. … We are waiting for physical tests to be done and autopsy results,” he said, adding that witness interviews are incomplete.
According to court and police records, there were several to the shooting, but most identified only the vehicle – a white Ford Focus.
Residents in the area told police “they observed a white Ford Focus with tinted windows drive past their residence,” and they saw it “travel at a high rate of speed through the neighborhoods,” according to the affidavit.
Another resident told police they saw the “white sedan stopped for approximately two seconds next to the male lying on the ground and continued driving north,” according to the affidavit.
Anfernee Antone reportedly was walking with Thompson on Gooding Lane, as they were heading to the Speedway Gas Station on Main Street. Antone reportedly told police “he observed a car turn south on Gooding Lane. The car backed up, and Antone heard shots,” according to the affidavit.
“He looked back and saw Thompson fall to the ground,” according to the affidavit. Thompson reportedly “was shot in the face, and had an injury to the eye area,” the affidavit states.
Farmington Police Officer Waylon Wasson tracked the car using the Farmington Police Department’s Real Time Crime Center, and Hilliard and Trujillo were stopped and arrested by New Mexico State Police near the Bisti Highway.
The rifle was located in the back seat of the car, and Farmington Police Detective Sgt. Clay Raybon stated in the affidavit that “it was put there by a person sitting in the front passenger seat,” according to the affidavit. There also was “a box of Fiochi 9 mm ammunition” in the vehicle’s back seat.
Sanchez told the court firearms experts from out of town called to testify as well as people from the state forensic laboratories.
Defense attorney Michael Jones told the court he was “short on physical discovery” at this point and concurred with the September trial date.
Trujillo will be the only one going to trial in this case, as the DA’s office dropped charges against Hilliard.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Dustin O’Brien said it appeared that Trujillo acted on his own in the shooting, and Hilliard had no way of knowing it was going to happen.
The trial is expected to last for five days.
