Man sentenced to 10 years in deadly shooting

Fresquez was given a 16-year sentence with all but eight and a half years suspended on a second degree murder charge in the death of JoNicholas Aguilar. He was also given another 18 months on an unlawful taking of a motor vehicle charge for stealing a friend's vehicle shortly before the shooting.

The taking of a motor vehicle charge will run consecutive to the murder charge. Upon completion of his prison time, Fresquez will be on probation for 5 years and parole for another two.

Because he has been in pretrial detention since his arrest, Fresquez begins his sentence with 626 days of time served.

On Jan. 11, Fresquez changed his initial not guilty plea on both counts to one of no contest in the April 25, 2021, fatal shooting of Aguilar outside a 1500 West Walnut Street home.

Aside from running the two sentences consecutively rather than concurrently, Lilley largely adhered to the recommendations put forth by Deputy District Attorney Hunter Spindle and agreed to by Gary Mitchell, Fresquez's attorney.

But initially, Lilley expressed misgivings about the proposed sentence.

“I'm a little bit uneasy about the state's recommendation,” Lilley said at the start of the hearing. In New Mexico, the charge of second degree murder carries a maximum sentence of 15 years.

Spindle explained the state strongly believed Fresquez committed second degree murder, but there was a strong possibility that a jury likely would have come back with a conviction on a lesser count of voluntary manslaughter, and not found the witnesses credible, given that they themselves were facing or had faced criminal charges in other cases.

Fresquez would likely have said the case was one of imperfect self-defense and that he had shot the victim because when Aguilar confronted him just before the shooting, he wrongly believed Aguilar was also armed.

The prosecution, Spindle said, was firm in the belief that Fresquez's shooting of Aguilar was second degree murder and would not negotiate on that, and so they decided to cut a deal on the amount of time Fresquez would serve.

“We tried to meet in the middle as much as possible to resolve this case, looking at evidence on both sides,” he said.

Mitchell told Lilley the reduced time was a crucial factor and raised the possibility of withdrawing the agreement if the sentence was greater than was recommended.

Fresquez on the afternoon of April 25, 2021, shot Aguilar once in the stomach. He was then taken to a hospital where he died from his injuries.

Court records state that before the shooting Fresquez had been a passenger in a friend's gray Pontiac Grand Am. When the friend went in the store and left the keys in the vehicle, Fresquez allegedly drove off in it.

With two other passengers inside of it, Fresquez encountered a vehicle on South Montana Avenue driven by Aguilar's girlfriend and in which Aguilar was a passenger. Fresquez then began swerving back and forth on the road.

The Grand Am continued to follow and tailgate the vehicle Fresquez was in for several streets. Aguilar and his girlfriend then drove to a friend's house on West Walnut Street as the Grand Am remained behind them.

Once they got to the address, Aguilar got out of the vehicle and walked over to the Grand Am to confront Fresquez. Fresquez then produced a loaded gun and shot Aguilar.

After the shot was fired, Fresquez then drove away.

Before the sentence was pronounced, Aguilar's mother, Blacita Herrera, and twin brother, Andrez Aguilar, addressed the court.

“I just want justice for my brother's death and to give my mom just a little closure,” Andrez Aguilar said. He added that he hoped the judge would give Fresquez life in prison, something Lilley could not do in a case where the charge was second degree murder.

Herrera said with the death of JoNicholas, two of her four sons have been murdered. Another son of hers was killed in 2012, she said. From there, she said, JoNicholas made some wrong choices, but had been turning around his life.

Before the shooting, she said that JoNicholas had completed a men's Christian program and was about to start a job at Sonic when he died.

Fresquez's decisions that day, Herrera said, have affected the lives of her family. She said that as a Christian she forgives Fresquez.

“But as a mother I hate you for what you did,” she said.

Herrera asked Lilley to “give my son justice, give me some peace."

Breaking news reporter Alex Ross can be contacted at 575-622-7710, ext. 301, or breakingnews@rdrnews.com.