Mestizo gets life plus 118 years

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58

Chris Hanson

Jeffrey Galindo during his October trial

Galindo sentenced to life plus 118 years in teen's murder

The man convicted in the murder of an Albuquerque teenager will spend the rest of his life behind bars, a judge ruled Wednesday afternoon.

Jeffrey Galindo, 22, was sentenced to life plus 118 years in prison for his role in the 2004 shooting death of Chris Hansen, 16, of Moriarty.

Galindo was convicted in October of first-degree murder. Prosecutors said he and several others forced Hanson and his friends and gunpoint to disrobe before robbing them and shooting Hanson in the head.

" would like to see the man in a
r
r
very small space, where he can't move freely, shackled, and no flavor in his food, said one of Hanson's friends.

Galindo deni
ed pulling the trigger, which fellow suspect Joseph Archuleta had pinned on Galindo.

" am not responsible for another man's decision or actions, he said. " helped the victims out by trying to stop everything.

But Galindo defiantly asked the judge for the full sentence, saying, " might be innocent, but if that's what makes them happy, let them have their peace.

Archuleta, 20, pleaded guilty for his involvement. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison in a deal that had him testify against Galindo.

A third suspect, Royce Chinana, 22, is scheduled to go to trial early next month after refusing a plea deal.

http://www.kobtv.com/index.cfm?viewer=stor...at=NMTOPSTORIES

 

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58

Teen's killer, tearful in court, gets life plus 118 years

Jeffrey Armando Galindo-Solano tearfully proclaimed his innocence and declared himself a victim before being sentenced to more than 100 years in prison for killing a Moriarty teen execution-style in a Northeast Heights park.

State District Judge Albert S. "Pat" Murdoch could have imposed the maximum sentence of life plus 158 years Wednesday for the August 2003 slaying of Chris Hanson, 16.

Instead, Murdoch showed a modicum of mercy by sentencing the 22-year-old Albuquerque man to life plus 118 years, saying he considered evidence that indicated Galindo-Solano had stopped one of his co-defendants from raping Hanson's girlfriend that night.

Either way, Galindo-Solano will likely never walk free from prison.

Galindo-Solano, who threatened prosecutors and cursed the jurors who convicted him of
r
r
first-degree murder and 25 other charges in Oct
ober, appeared more subdued in the Albuquerque courtroom Wednesday.

Reading from a letter and occasionally shedding tears, he told the court that he had done nothing but try to stop the violence unleashed on Hanson and his four friends at Alvarado Park.

"He said we convicted an innocent man," said Assistant District Attorney Linda Mott, who prosecuted the case.

Mott, who Galindo-Solano had threatened moments after the verdicts were read, said he blamed her and co-counsel Troy Davis for manipulating the evidence and forcing witnesses to falsely testify against him.

Galindo-Solano also said he was a victim just like everyone else that night, she said.

But jurors had taken less than 10 hours to convict him, convinced by prosecutors that he had played a much deadlier role in the chance encounter with the Moriarty teens, who had stayed out too late and wound up at the park.

Galindo-Solano befriended the t
een
s,
prosecutors said at trial, then joined in when co-defendants Joseph Arch
uleta and Royce Chinana ordered the teens to hand over their possessions, strip naked and lie face down on the ground.

Galindo-Solano, they said, fired a sawed-off shotgun at close range into Hanson's skull.

Archuleta, who previously pleaded guilty to his role in the crime, testified that Galindo-Solano told him he killed Hanson because Hanson had not protected his girlfriend from Chinana's sexual advances.

Galindo-Solano is already serving an 18-year-sentence at the Penitentiary of New Mexico for raping an underage girlfriend when he was 18.

That sentence is running concurrently with sentences for a conviction on a 2003 incident of shooting at another girlfriend and pleading guilty to a 2004 attempt to escape from a prison transport bus in Downtown Albuquerque.

THE CO-DEFENDANTS

Royce Chinana, 22: Scheduled to go to trial Feb. 6 on charges similar t
o those
faced
by Jeffrey Armando Galindo-Solano.

Joseph Archuleta, 20: Sentenced in December to 30 ye
ars in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder and six other charges.

http://www.abqtrib.com/albq/nw_local/artic...4417568,00.html