COURTS
Jurors begin deliberations in 9-year-old Albuquerque killing
Prosecution used DNA tests of shell casings found at an Albuquerque park
Published
Modified
Prosecutors told jurors Friday that Marco Martza fatally shot a man in the head in 2017 during an "armed robbery-turned-killing" following a drug deal at a Northeast Albuquerque park.
Jurors began deliberations Friday in the trial of Martza, 29, who faces charges including first-degree felony murder and armed robbery in the shooting death of 19-year-old Jon Paul Carabajal.
Deputy District Attorney Derek Berg said in closing arguments that Martza shot Carabajal at close range in the head "execution-style" based on forensic and DNA evidence found on shell casings at the scene.
Martza's attorney responded that nothing connects Martza to Carabajal's death other than the testimony of Martza's ex-girlfriend, Daisy Ortiz, and DNA evidence that doesn't place him at the scene.
"How can you put Marco Martza at the scene based on the tortured testimony of Daisy Ortiz and these shell casings?" John McCall told jurors. Ortiz was interviewed multiple times over the years and repeatedly changed her narrative about killing, he said.
Martza contends Ortiz and her brother took Martza's car and left him at a gas station before they drove to meet Carabajal at a park, McCall told jurors.
"The DNA just proves that (Martza) handled a shell casing," he said. "Do these shell casings put a person there? No. The DNA cannot do the work of eyewitnesses."
On April 30, 2017, police responded around 2:40 a.m. to a shooting outside Stardust Skies Park near Pennsylvania and Montgomery NE and found Carabajal lying in the street beside his car. An autopsy found he had been struck by up to six bullets, prosecutors said.
At least a dozen shell casings and one live round were found scattered around the residential street in the 3800 block of Julie NE.
No charges were filed in the case for more than seven years after Carabajal's killing. Martza and Ortiz both were charged in 2024 with first-degree murder in Carabajal's death after investigators hired a Virginia firm to perform DNA tests on the shell casing found at the scene, which found DNA for Martza, Ortiz and several others.
Martza's DNA was found on .40-caliber rounds similar to those that killed Carabajal, Berg told jurors. Carabajal's pockets were found turned inside out and his phone, wallet and handgun were missing, he said.
Martza later told an Albuquerque police detective that he robbed drug dealers because it was "easy money," Berg said. Martza also acknowledged that he knew Carabajal was a drug dealer, he said.
McCall alleged that Ortiz learned that her DNA was found on one of the shell casings.
"She's gotten the evidence in the case provided to her by her attorney," McCall said. "She's been able to put together a story that I guess she thinks makes sense, and then she makes a deal."
Ortiz pleaded no contest in April 2025 to tampering with evidence and possession of a controlled substance and faces up to 4 1/2 years in prison. Her sentencing hearing has not been scheduled. Prosecutors dismissed four felony charges against Ortiz, including first-degree murder and armed robbery, court records show.
Olivier Uyttebrouck covers the court system. You can reach him at olivier@abqjournal.com.
