Adrian Hedden
El Rito Media
achedden@currentargus.com

Nathan Garrison signed a plea deal Monday, Feb. 17, just hours before he was set to go to trial for the 2021 shooting death of Tyler Grantham.

Garrison, 45, was charged with second-degree murder but agreed to plead guilty to charges of voluntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence, convictions that drew him sentences totaling nine years in prison. If convicted of second-degree murder, Garrison could have been sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Under the plea agreement, District Judge Jane Shuler Gray sentenced Garrison to nine years for voluntary manslaughter and three years for tampering with evidence. He was granted three years credit for time incarcerated ahead of trial, reducing his total prison time to nine years.

The investigation into Garrison’s crimes began Nov. 17, 2021, when Grantham, 36, was found shot in the face by a shotgun blast at his home in the 100 block of East Cottonwood Street in Eddy County, just outside Artesia.

Witnesses at the scene said Garrison fired a single round from a shotgun into the back of the mobile home, striking Grantham, according to police, who said the shooting occurred after several people inside the home, including Garrison, argued over missing money.

Police said Garrison left the house during the conflict, drove into Artesia where he was staying on Quay Avenue, retrieved the shotgun and returned to fire the shot that killed Grantham.

Before he was sentenced, Garrison addressed Shuler Gray and Grantham’s family. He said he believed people inside the home, including Grantham, were being held at gunpoint by another man, Randy Fernandez. Garrison’s defense attorney, Gary Mitchell, said his client fired to scare Fernandez and “to free” the others.

Although Fernandez has been charged in the past with crimes ranging from forgery to drug possession, records show he was never charged in the events leading up to Grantham’s death.

“I know I messed up bad,” Garrison said at the sentencing hearing. “This was a horrible accident. There’s nothing I can say. I got to live with this the rest of my life. I can’t say sorry enough.”

Before Garrison was sentenced, some of Grantham’s family members testified to the “suffering” and “heartache” his death caused them, and asked Shuler Gray to impose the maximum sentence.

Some expressed frustration at the plea deal that resulted in a lighter sentence than he might have received if convicted of second-degree murder.

“It is difficult to see all the time and resources spent to convict Garrison of such a cowardly act,” said Grantham’s father Larry Grantham. “Life is about choices. Garrison’s continue to inflict severe pain on others. The decision by the court will never be enough to bring back my son, a father and friend to many.”

Prosecutor Ariane Gonzales argued for maximum prison time, contending Garrison had several opportunities to call police if he believed his friends were in danger.

She said the shooting was a purposeful act as Garrison drove eight miles to where he was staying on Quay Avenue in Artesia, switched cars and picked up the shotgun and ammunition.

Gonzales also described how Garrison drove up to the house on Cottonwood Street, called out demanding someone open the door, and fired the shotgun when an unidentified person inside yelled profanities.

“This was a very careless act by the defendant. It happened quickly, but there were steps he could have taken,” Gonzales said. “Mr. Grantham lost his life because of this over nothing. Over something that could have been solved by law enforcement. Acts like this need punishment.”

Defense Attorney Gary Mitchell said his client and others involved in the incident suffered from methamphetamine addiction. Mitchell pointed to toxicology reports that showed the drug was present in Grantham’s system when he died.

Mitchell said the argument that led to the shooting was not over missing money but drugs stolen from the car of Kianna Wallace, Randy Fernandez’s girlfriend. The attorney said Fernandez held people at the East Cottonwood address at gunpoint and Garrison’s “intent was to get them out of the house before something bad happened to them.” He also said Fernandez threatened to kill Garrison if he called the police.

After the shooting, Mitchell said Garrison cooperated with police when he found out Grantham was killed, confessing to the shooting and showing investigators the route he took to and from the house on Cottonwood.

“He did everything he could do after the fact,” Mitchell said. “He immediately confessed that he was the one who shot.”

In handing down Garrison’s sentence, Shuler Gray said every person involved in the incident had previous charges and interactions with police. She blamed drug addiction for the circumstances leading to Grantham’s death.

“I’m saddened about what meth has done,” she said. “It destroys you from the inside. Sometimes, it destroys your soul.”

El Rito Media News Service

A sweeping measure to crack down on crime in New Mexico that could end up being one of the defining bills of this year’s session passed the state House on Saturday.

House Bill 8 consists of six originally separate bills, including changing criminal competency procedures and measures to crack down on fentanyl trafficking, shooting threats, vehicle theft and drunken driving. It now heads to the Senate, with about a week until the session’s halfway point and the Legislature’s self-imposed deadline to get an omnibus anti-crime package to the governor’s desk. On Friday, the Senate passed a major overhaul of the state’s behavioral health care system, another measure lawmakers had promised to get to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in the first 30 days.

Rep. Christine Chandler, D-Los Alamos, the chair of the House Judiciary Committee and a major player in crafting the package, emphasized its bipartisan nature, with several of the bills that were wrapped into it having had co-sponsors from both parties.

“I feel very good about the process we used … in preparing this package,” Chandler said. “I felt and feel and continue to feel it was done of the basis of collaboration” between lawmakers, law enforcement and the public.

“It represents a well-vetted group of bills,” she added.

Despite the bipartisan nature of some of the components, hours of debate preceded the final vote as Democrats shot down Republican attempts to make changes to the package. The House gaveled in a little after 2 p.m., passing the bill by a 48-20 vote four hours later.

Rep. Andrea Reeb, R-Clovis, a prosecutor who has been sponsoring many of the Republicans’ tough-on-crime bills this year, offered a substitute measure that would have made some changes to the fentanyl provisions and added tougher penalties for some youthful offenders and for felons found in possession of firearms. That last provision, she said, was requested by Lujan Grisham, whose office included that bill Friday on a list of measures she would like to see the Legislature pass in addition to the ones included in the crime package.

Reeb’s proposed substitute also would have removed the increased penalties for shooting threats — which originated as House Bill 31, a bill Reeb had co-sponsored — and for possession of a “Glock switch,” or a device to convert a semiautomatic firearm into a fully automatic. While this is already illegal under federal law, it is not currently a state crime. Reeb said she worried about people who possess a “Glock switch” but who might not have it with a gun being charged with a felony.

“I felt the language needed to be tighter,” Reeb said. “It needed to mirror federal law more and it has not.”

Rep. Nicole Chavez, R-Albuquerque, who before being elected last year was an anti-crime advocate for years after the murder of her 17-year-old son, argued passionately for cracking down on juvenile crime.

“When we leave juvenile crime out of this package we send a dangerous message that accountability has an age limit, and that is not true,” Chavez said. “Every day, families are shattered by young offenders taking lives such as my son’s.”

The House ended up tabling Reeb’s proposed substitute on a 42-26 party-line vote. Reeb then tried to add just the juvenile justice provisions to the bill, which failed 41-27.

The bill would expand the list of offenses for which a defendant could be criminally committed, authorize district attorneys or the state attorney general to file petitions for assisted outpatient treatment and let courts authorize the use of competency evaluation reports in involuntary commitment proceedings. Chandler said people have gotten frustrated with people charged with low-level crimes having the charges dismissed due to them being deemed not competent.

“We recognized that that was a very old law,” Chandler said. “It needed work, and throughout the summer … [the Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee] held many meetings on these issues.”

Lawmakers also praised the importance of the other provisions. Rep. Cynthia Borrego, D-Albuquerque, cited the shooting deaths last year of state police Officer Justin Hare, whose killer was driving a stolen car, and of of 83-year-old Gordon Wilson as demonstrating the importance of raising penalties for repeat vehicle theft. Police say Wilson’s accused killer stole his SUV after shooting him to death in the parking lot of the Best Buy store on Zafarano Drive in Santa Fe.

“I mention these situations and these instances because car theft is a situation and a crime that often leads to more heinous crimes,” Borrego said.

Other provisions of the bill would make it a felony to have a “Glock switch,” make it easier for police to get a blood draw in misdemeanor DWI cases and increase penalties for fentanyl trafficking. And, it would elevate making a shooting threat from a misdemeanor to a felony. Rep. Joy Garratt, D-Albuquerque, said shooting threats are extremely disruptive and spread fear even when no shooting occurs.

“It’ll assist law enforcement in protecting schools and our schoolchildren and our neighbors in public places,” she said.