The New Mexico Supreme Court has confirmed the four murder convictions of Damian Herrera, who received four consecutive life sentences for the 2017 killings of three family members and a stranger in Rio Arriba County. The court's decision, issued Thursday, upholds the original convictions for the murders that took place following a family dispute in La Madera, north of Española, and a subsequent shooting at an Abiquiu gas station.
While affirming the murder convictions, the Supreme Court also ordered the lower court to vacate either Herrera's conviction for resisting, evading, or obstructing an officer or his conviction for assault on a police officer. The court found these misdemeanor convictions violated double jeopardy protections. Herrera had been sentenced to 364 days for each of those misdemeanor charges.
The court's ruling leaves intact Herrera's other convictions, including aggravated fleeing from law enforcement, possession of a stolen vehicle, attempting to disarm a peace officer, firearm theft, and credit card theft. Each of these convictions carries an 18-month prison sentence, to be served consecutively to the life sentences. Herrera was 26 years old at the time of his sentencing in January 2022.
