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Chavez found guilty of second-degree murder
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BERNALILLO — Matthew Chavez has been found guilty in a 2023 murder, but not on the charge prosecutors were seeking.
Chavez was accused of shooting his on-again off-again girlfriend Jordan Gallegos, 21, of Rio Rancho, and driving around the Metro area with her body in her car on Feb. 5, 2023. He was ultimately convinced by police to turn himself in at Premiere Cinemas.
A jury found Chavez, 26, of Rio Rancho, not guilty of first-degree murder, instead finding him guilty of second-degree murder and tampering with evidence Aug. 21, just two days after the trial’s start on Aug. 19.
The maximum penalty for second-degree murder is 15 years. Chavez could face more with the tampering with evidence charge, however. Judge Christopher Perez agreed to give enough notice ahead of sentencing for the families on both sides to make it on time.
Before the jury deliberated, the lawyers gave closing arguments.
Deputy District Attorney Adoni Garrote told the jury first-degree murder should be the charge for the case. He argued on behalf of the state that Chavez intended to kill Gallegos, referring to the phone call with Sgt. Gabriel Griffith getting Chavez to comply with officers and the manner in which the body was found in the back seat of the car he was driving.
“She was vulnerable,” he said.
According to testimony, Gallegos was found facing the back of the car seat. A blanket with no blood on it was on top of her despite the car being covered in blood. She sustained two, possibly three wounds to her head. The office of the medical investigator confirmed that one of the wounds may have been entered by two bullets. Additionally, three bullets matching Chavez’s gun, which was found on the floorboard of Gallegos’ car at the time his arrest, were found were recovered from Gallegos and the car.
Garrote also stressed that she was shot three times and that to shoot a gun that many times requires some effort on the shooter’s part.
He also argued that just because a person is polite with police, like Chavez was, doesn’t mean they didn’t do something bad. He brought up that Chavez even said “I did something bad” multiple times to family and police, and said “they’re gone” when Griffith asked if anyone needed an ambulance.
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The previous day, Garrote’s partner, Assistant District Attorney Jessica Perez, made the point, in response to a motion made by Public Defender Jonathan Schildgen for mistrial due to insufficient evidence by the state, that Chavez did not turn himself in by definition. She stated that had he called the cops on himself, rather than his family, the state would have considered that he “turned himself in.” She added that Chavez only started complying once police called him.
Garrote also mentioned that Chavez asked his family not to call the cops after he left his dad’s house, where a tussle occurred for the gun he didn’t have on him.
Schildgen’s point was that the state did not provide any evidence that would suggest the murder was premeditated.
He argued that Chavez acted in haste, in the “heat of the moment.” According to Schildgen, Chavez said in interviews with police he didn’t mean to kill Gallegos in interviews. However, there was testimony regarding that claim during the trial.
Schildgen also stated that there was no attempt from police to collect evidence of Chavez being inebriated the night of the murder despite Chavez and Gallegos being seen at two gas stations buying alcoholic beverages. Police stated in testimony that they didn’t have probable cause to test Chavez.
Schildgen ended by asking the jury “not to blow Matthew’s candle out” or, in other words, find him guilty of murder.
After nearly four hours of deliberation, the jury came back with the second-degree murder verdict.
The day the verdict came in, Gallegos’ grandma, Marie Gerhardt Sena, spoke more about her granddaughter’s personality and the case.
“This has been a horrific thing for our family. Totally unexpected,” she said.
Gallegos had been a Rio Rancho Public Schools student and was set to study music at a college in Florida the year of her death, she said. “She was very talented. She had a beautiful voice,” Gerhardt Sena said.
She added that Gallegos loved to do makeup. “Her friends would call her to do makeup for wedding.”
She added that Gallegos worked with kids for the city of Albuquerque, and other family confirmed she worked at The Neighborhood in Rio Rancho.
“She loved her residents,” they said.
Her family said she also had YouTube and social media channels where she shared song and dance videos as well.
The family also shared the location of a memorial for Gallegos, which is located on a tree as people enter the parking lot of Mariposa Basin Park, a location police confirmed both Chavez and Gallegos were at the night of the murder.
Details of each day of the trial can be read at rrobserver.com.
