The widow testifies that on the night the trial began, her husband was killed

February 8 – one – two – three – four – one – two – three – four.

On Wednesday, the numbers rang out in quick succession when the audio system in Judge T. Glenn Ellington’s First Circuit courtroom played a recording of Elizabeth Romero’s first phone call to an emergency dispatcher after her husband’s shooting.

Romero sat in the witness stand and listened to her own screams and sobs, performing chest compressions in time with the dispatcher, desperately begging for rescuers to come.

She relived the harrowing memories in front of family, friends and jurors all gathered on Wednesday for the first day of Joseph Jones’s trial. The defendant is charged with shooting Robert Romero, 52, in the early morning of July 30, 2018, in the early morning of July 30, 2018, as he entered the Romero family’s backyard, and is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated burglary.

“Somebody’s home, somebody’s husband, somebody’s father,” said Deputy District Attorney General Jennifer Padgett Macias, beginning her opening remarks.

She opened the court by painting a picture of the Romero family and the last day the four of them spent before they were irreparably separated. Padgett Macias said the family spent part of the day in Albuquerque dropping off Robert and Elizabeth’s eldest daughter, Jordan, at the airport so she could return to college.

The parents and their youngest daughter Devon went shopping and ate together at Panera Bread before heading back to Santa Fe.

“Once at home, the day was normal. The energy, the mood in the family was a little sad due to the fact that Jordan had just been sent away after a wonderful summer together. But they were doing business as usual,” Padgett Macias said. “They hung out, watched TV, and Robert, who was born and raised in Santa Fe, was doing what he loved most in this world, his therapy – mountain biking.”

Romero said her husband loves “everything outdoors” and enjoys mountain biking, which she says he does almost every day. She described Robert as a typical guy who does not forget about his height and weight.

The story goes on

“He tried very hard to be 5-9,” Romero said when asked how tall her husband was.

Padgett Macias said that the Romeros eventually fell into a routine, and Robert would often sleep downstairs on the sofa in the living room, watching old Western films.

Robert and Elizabeth were watching an old Wyatt Earp black-and-white film on July 29, 2018, Padgett Macias said, before Elizabeth went upstairs to read, leaving Robert to watch his latest western.

The next day, around 2:00 am, Elizabeth was woken up by a loud noise coming from her patio. Robert started calling for help. She ran downstairs and approached a silhouette she thought was her husband, Padgett Macias said of Elizabeth’s experience.

Elizabeth eventually ran back to their house for help, only to hear a shot a few moments later.

“I began [by] mentioning that it could have been anyone’s house, but it was nobody’s house,” Padgett Macias said. It was Romero’s house. … It was nobody’s husband; it was Elizabeth’s husband, aged 21. It wasn’t anyone’s father; this was Jordan and Devon’s beloved, goofy, funny dad – 52, gunned down in his own backyard.”

There were no suspects in the fatal shooting for about two years. However, DNA left at Romero’s house on glasses and a flashlight helped Jones get arrested in 2020. Santa Fe police turned the DNA over to Parabon NanoLabs, which linked evidence to three people based on a public database filled with genetic profiles.

Padgett Macias said the three subjects were the defendant, his brother, and their cousin.

Defense: “This is not a first-degree murder story”

Jones’ lawyer, Sydney West, told jurors that Romero’s untimely death was “a terrible tragedy” in her opening statement, and assured jurors that she and the rest of the defense team did not want to downplay the shooting.

However, West said that evidence throughout the trial would show that the preparations for Romero’s death were not an attempted aggravated burglary, as the state claimed, and that Jones may not have been able to fend off Romero.

“I believe you will hear that [there] there came a moment when the man had reason to believe that his life was at stake, that he was being beaten and held and not allowed to run, that he could not speak – perhaps he could not breathe, West said. “The evidence tells a different story than someone trying to commit a burglary. … This is not a first-degree murder story.”

West also told jurors that while the area of ​​Las Casitas where the Romeros lived is a “beautiful area full of families,” its proximity to a homeless shelter and park, and the burglaries that occurred in the area, could be key factors for understanding “tone”. around the death of Romero.

“When Mr. Romero saw a stranger running through his yard, he may have thought it was a burglar, but there is no evidence to suggest that,” West said. “But he could also just take the law into his own hands.”

District Attorney Mary Carmack-Oltwis, who co-counsel with Padgett Macias during the Jones trial, spent most of her time questioning Romero at the witness stand, adding many photos of the Las Casitas home as evidence, and asked Romero to point out the geography of the house room by room.

Carmack-Oltvis also reviewed Romero’s version of the incident, asking questions about the attacker’s appearance, the positions she saw her husband and the suspect in during the brawl leading up to the shooting, and the physical display of the altercation involving herself, Romero, and Padgett Macias. .

Under cross-examination, West asked Romero about the unsolved burglary that occurred in 2014 at Romero’s home, their fencing and home security system at the time, and the transcript of a conversation she had with law enforcement after the shooting, where she stated that it was “So strange” the family dog ​​did not bark during the incident.

“I’m just… asking you if people can actually enter your territory without prior notice. Based on the configuration of your property, it looks like your dog is unlikely to react, so I mean people can use your property. like a label or something like that,” West said. “You would never know.

Romero said she was puzzled by the suggestion that people could use her backyard as a shortcut.

“This is such a far-reaching statement that I don’t even know how to respond to it,” Romero said. “I never had any reason to believe that people walk through my backyard; for this they would have to climb over our fence. You know, I just… I don’t even know how to respond to something like that.”

Public prosecutors planned to call several witnesses to testify on Wednesday. However, due to a delay caused by Wednesday morning’s winter weather, the opening day of the trial was pushed back several hours, leaving Romero as the only witness called.

According to online court records, there are nine days of trial left after Wednesday, with the last scheduled trial scheduled for February 21.

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