Mother, son have history of trouble, documents show

Mother, son have history of trouble, documents show

September 11, 2001

TACORONTE

By Aspen C. Emmett
Journal Staff Writer

The mother of the man accused of murdering a gay teenager, who was herself arrested in district court Friday, has a history of encounters with law enforcement, court records show.

Angel Tacoronte, mother of Shaun Murphy, was arrested in district court Friday on suspicion of felony menacing and intimidation of a witness during her son’s preliminary hearing.

According to court records, it wasn’t the first time she came to the "defense" of her son and wound up facing criminal charges.

Murphy, 18, of Farmington, is being held without bail on charges of first-degree murder pursuant to a robbery and second-degree murder in the slaying of 16-year-old Fred Martinez Jr., a gay or transgendered Navajo from Cortez. Martinez’s badly decomposed and bludgeoned body was found in a rocky canyon south of Cortez June 21, and several tips to Crime Stoppers led to Murphy’s July 4 arrest.

On Friday, Murphy’s mother, grandmother, aunt, sister, girlfriend and two daughters sat in the courtroom as County Court Judge Christopher Leroi declared there was enough evidence against Murphy to continue with both felony murder charges.

The relatives walked into and out of the courtroom frequently throughout the proceeding. At lunch recess, as Tacoronte left the courtroom, she passed by one of the prosecution’s witnesses, Mary Lobato, and allegedly made threatening statements.

Tacoronte, 34, was taken into custody following the preliminary hearing and booked into jail on a $10,000 bond.

Monday morning she was advised of the charges — intimidation of a witness and felony menacing — and her bond was reduced to $3,000. Formal advisement is set for Wednesday at 9 a.m.

In December 1998, Tacoronte also tangled with the law in relation to alleged criminal acts by her son.

Tacoronte pleaded guilty to third-degree assault for allegedly slapping a man, Thomas Jordan, who was attempting to break up a fight between Murphy and another man.

Murphy, who was 16 at the time, had assaulted a man outside the Cortez Burger King on the evening of Dec. 30, 1998, according to Tacoronte’s court records. Murphy reportedly walked up behind Edward Abeyta and made a threatening statement, grabbed the hood of the man’s jacket and slammed his head into the wall.

Abeyta told police that Murphy took a swing at him with his fist and the man attempted to shield his face, but fell to the ground. While Abeyta was on the ground, Murphy began kicking him in the back of the head, the face and the back, the report stated.

At that point, Jordan grabbed Murphy and tried to pull him off, according to the report.

Murphy turned around and allegedly stated, "You want some of this (expletive)?" Jordan told Murphy he didn’t want to fight but would if he had to. According to the report, Tacoronte then approached Jordan and asked, "What the (expletive), you trying to jump my boy?" Tacoronte then slapped him and knocked his glasses off.

According to the report, Jordan stated he wasn’t trying to "jump" Murphy, only trying to get him off Abeyta. Tacoronte then continued screaming obscenities and slapped Jordan a second time before she turned around and stomped on his glasses, according to the report.

Abeyta was able to get up off the ground and run away in the midst of the commotion, the report said.

According to a report in Tacoronte’s court file, both Tacoronte and Murphy were charged with third-degree assault in the incident.

Initially, Tacoronte denied the incident had happened and stated her son had not been at Burger King the evening of the assault. Later, she entered a plea of guilty to third-degree assault.

A charge against Tacoronte of criminal mischief was dismissed under a plea arrangement. She was fined $138 and sentenced to one year of probation with a deferred judgment of one year, according to court records.

Because Murphy was a juvenile at the time, his files are sealed and not available for public viewing. It is unknown how he pleaded in the assault case.

Another case involving the mother and son involved wicker furniture stolen from a residence on East Second Street in Sept. 20, 1997. Tacoronte was charged with theft by receiving the furniture, which was found in her home during the execution of a search warrant, according to court records.

Tacoronte said the furniture was a gift from a man who had been living with her. However, the man claimed he had not in fact taken the furniture, but rather blamed the theft on Murphy and another boy, according to a police report in Tacoronte’s court file.

Murphy was 15 at the time and it is not known whether he was charged with theft in the incident. The district attorney later dismissed the charges against Tacoronte.

A couple of weeks following the furniture incident, Tacoronte was charged with harboring a runaway and false reporting. There were few details in the case file regarding that incident, but she was fined $458 and sentenced to 40 hours’ public service and one year of probation.

On Oct. 23, 1997, Tacoronte was charged with second-degree kidnapping, but the case was dismissed because the prosecution was unable to show probable cause.

Two weeks later, Tacoronte was arrested for disorderly conduct for an incident in which she allegedly entered the Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office and "started yelling abusive language," according to court records. She then reportedly picked up a clipboard full of papers and threw it at a sheriff’s employee.

Upon arrest she became belligerent and screamed obscenities at the arresting officer, according to the court record. Again the case was later dismissed by the district attorney’s office.