Defendant pleads no contest in shooting of Native activist at protest of Spanish conquistador statue

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico man pleaded no contest Monday to reduced charges of aggravated battery and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in the shooting of a Native American activist during demonstrations about abandoned plans to reinstall a statue of a Spanish conquistador.

Ryan David Martinez skuttled his scheduled trial this week at the outset of jury selection on previous charges including attempted murder. Under terms of the plea arrangement, he accepted a combined 9 1/2-year sentence but ultimately would serve four years in prison with two years' parole if he complies with terms including restitution.

Prosecutors agreed to dismiss a possible hate-crime sentence enhancement. Restitution will be determined later by state probation and parole authorities.

Martinez was arrested in September 2023 after chaos erupted and a single shot was fired at an outdoor gathering in Española over aborted plans to install a bronze likeness of conquistador Juan de Oñate, who is both revered and reviled for his role in establishing early settlements along the Upper Rio Grande starting in 1598.

Multiple videos show that Martinez attempted to rush toward a makeshift shrine in opposition to installing the statue — only for Martinez to be blocked physically by a group of men. Voices can be heard saying, “Let him go,” as Martinez retreated over a short wall, pulls a handgun from his waist and fires one shot.

The shooting severely wounded Jacob Johns, of Spokane, Washington, an artist and well-traveled activist for environmental causes and an advocate for Native American rights who is of Hopi and Akimel O’odham tribal ancestry.

The assault charge stems from Martinez also pointing the gun at a female activist from the Española area before fleeing.

In a statement, Johns said he was disappointed with the plea agreement and said he still regards the shooting as a crime motivated by racial hatred and “a continuation of colonial violence.”

“The lifelong scars and injuries, loss of an internal organ, mental anguish and trauma will be with me forever — and in a couple of years Martinez will live free,” Johns said.

Attorneys for Martinez did not immediately respond to phone and email messages. They have argued that Martinez acted in self-defense.

Santa Fe-based District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies led the prosecution of Martinez and commended Johns and other witnesses to the attack for their resolve.

“The Defendant came into our community, armed with a firearm, to create and stir political discord," she said in a statement.

The shooting took place the day after Rio Arriba County officials canceled plans to install the statue in the courtyard of a county government complex. The bronze statue was taken off public display in June 2020 from a highway-side heritage center amid simmering tensions over monuments to colonial-era history.

Oñate is celebrated as a cultural father figure in communities along the Upper Rio Grande that trace their ancestry to Spanish settlers. But he is also reviled for his brutality.

To Native Americans, Oñate is known for having ordered the right foot cut off of 24 captive tribal warriors after his soldiers stormed the Acoma Pueblo’s mesa-top “sky city.” That attack was precipitated by the killing of Oñate’s nephew.

FILE - Ryan Martinez, seated, cries during his preliminary and detention hearing in Tierra Amarilla, N.M., Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, as his attorney Nicole Moss, describes the events that led to him allegedly shooting Jacob Johns during a rally outside the Rio Arriba County Complex in Espanola. (Eddie Moore/The Albuquerque Journal via AP, File)

FILE - Activists tend to a shooting victim during a protest where officials had planned to install a statue of Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023, in Española, N.M. (Luis Sanchez Saturno/Santa Fe New Mexican via AP, File)

FILE - Jennifer Marley, San Ildefonso Pueblo, and others hug after a man was shot during a rally to protest a statue of Juan Onate that was to be resurrected outside the Rio Arriba County building, in Espanola, N.M., Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023. (Eddie Moore/The Albuquerque Journal via AP, File)

FILE - A man who identified himself to the Albuquerque Journal as Ryan Martinez, of East Mountains, pulls a gun during a rally outside the Rio Arriba County building in Española, N.M., Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023. The man scrambling at lower left was not shot. (Eddie Moore/The Albuquerque Journal via AP, File)

FILE - Ryan Martinez is led into court for a preliminary and detention hearing at the Rio Arriba Courthouse, in Tierra Amarilla, N.M., Friday, Oct. 13, 2023. (Eddie Moore/The Albuquerque Journal via AP, File)

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The weapons supervisor in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by Alec Baldwin on the set of the Western film “Rust" pleaded guilty Monday to a separate criminal charge of carrying a gun into a licensed liquor establishment.

Movie armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed agreed to change her plea to guilty on the charge in exchange for a reduced sentence of 18 months supervised probation.

Judge T. Glenn Ellington approved the agreement that allows Gutierrez-Reed to begin probation while serving out an 18-month prison term at a New Mexico state penitentiary for involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

In the “Rust” case, prosecutors blamed Gutierrez-Reed for unwittingly bringing live ammunition onto the movie set and for failing to follow basic gun safety protocols.

Gutierrez-Reed shuffled into the Santa Fe courtroom Monday in a beige jumpsuit, handcuffs and ankle shackles to change her plea to guilty and waive her right to trial.

“I'd just like to apologize to the court and thank you for your judgment today,” she said.

The case stems from evidence that a few weeks before “Rust” began filming in October 2021, Gutierrez-Reed carried a gun into a downtown bar in Santa Fe where firearms are prohibited.

Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey said Gutierrez-Reed filmed herself in the bathroom of the bar with a handgun — explaining how she snuck in the prohibited firearm in a video that was obtained when authorities searched the armorer's phone during the “Rust” investigation.

Gutierrez-Reed was convicted in March at trial of involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Hutchins. She has an appeal of that conviction pending in a higher court.

Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer for “Rust,” was pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal for the film when the revolver went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.

In July, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed an involuntary manslaughter case against Baldwin halfway through a trial based on the withholding of evidence by police and prosecutors from the defense. Morrissey has since asked the judge to reconsider.

Under terms of her plea agreement, Gutierrez-Reed is prohibited while on probation from possessing firearms, consuming alcohol or drugs and must pay $180 in fees while submitting a sample of her DNA to a criminal database and completing an addiction treatment program.

Defense attorney Jason Bowles said the agreement makes it possible for Gutierrez-Reed to be released from prison as soon as June 2025 to complete probation in Arizona without getting an additional felony conviction on her record.

Before being led away, Gutierrez-Reed blew kisses toward the court gallery where her mother, Stacy Reed, was seated.

Reed said she was grateful her daughter can begin to fulfill new parole requirements prior to release from prison.

“She’s not gotten a fair shake from the beginning,” said Reed, who traveled from Arizona for the hearing.

Movie armorer on Alec Baldwin's film 'Rust' pleads guilty to gun charge in separate case

FILE - Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, center, with her attorney Jason Bowles, left, and paralegal Carmella Sisneros, right, prepare for a sentencing hearing in state district court in Santa Fe, N.M., April 15, 2024. (Eddie Moore/The Albuquerque Journal via AP, Pool, File)

Movie armorer on Alec Baldwin's film 'Rust' pleads guilty to gun charge in separate case