A Bloomfield man entered a plea of not guilty when arraigned on a first-degree murder charge.
Thomas Vigil, 20, was also charged with shooting from a motor vehicle, a second-degree felony; aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, a third-degree felony; tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony; and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a second-degree felony.
Defense attorney Arlon Stoker entered the not guilty plea to all charges Aug. 10 in 11th Judicial District Court, saying his office will be investigating the case.
Vigil allegedly shot and killed Elihue Vialpando, 18, at an abandoned home on County Road 6800 in Waterflow.
“This allegedly occurred at a party,” Stoker said, adding “We’re having some discussions about discovery.”
Deputy District Attorney Andrew Hansen said, “There are quite a few witnesses and physical evidence as well.”
Stoker was concerned about evidence he expects to find on cellular phones.
“We believe there might be exonerating evidence on the phones,” Stoker said, adding the phones are in the possession of the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office, and his office wants “to do our forensic on the phones.”
Judge Gurley said access to the phones should not be a problem, once the state completes its analysis of them.
The judge set a pretrial status hearing for 9 a.m. Oct. 13 in his courtroom.
Vigil is being held in the San Juan County Detention Center on a pretrial detention hold.