COURTS
Jury convicts ABQ man in 2023 death of 60-year-old man in his apartment
Family pressed police to investigate killing initially considered a natural death
The Bernalillo County Courthouse.
A jury on Friday convicted Jarrett Chacon of killing 60-year-old Larry Norsworthy in 2023 after barging into his Northeast Albuquerque apartment, resulting in a fight between the two men.
Jurors found Chacon, 28, guilty of first-degree felony murder and robbery following a weeklong trial in 2nd Judicial District Court before Judge Brett Loveless.
The first-degree murder conviction requires Chacon to serve at least 30 years in prison before he is eligible for parole. His sentencing hearing has not been scheduled.
An unusual twist in the case involves the crucial role Norsworthy's family played in bringing Chacon to trial after police and Office of the Medical Investigator officials dismissed Norsworthy鈥檚 killing as a natural death.
Prosecution and defense attorneys sparred in closing arguments Friday over the credibility of a key witness 鈥 Jasmine Trujillo 鈥 who gave jurors an eyewitness account of the fight that resulted in Norsworthy's death.
Chacon's attorney, Stefanie Gulley, said Trujillo is Norsworthy's killer and testified against Chacon to get a favorable plea deal.
"She's a liar," Gulley said in closing arguments. "Why did she take a plea? Because she's guilty of killing Larry (Norsworthy)."
Trujillo, 32, pleaded guilty last year to second-degree murder, aggravated burglary and conspiracy and was sentenced in January to 25 years in prison. Her plea agreement required her to testify in Chacon's trial.
In the weeks prior to the killing, Trujillo lived rent-free in Norsworthy鈥檚 apartment after she was evicted from another apartment in the same complex. She admitted conspiring with Chacon and was in the apartment at the time of the killing.
Prosecutor Christine Jablonsky acknowledged that Trujillo "is a flawed character" but testified truthfully that Chacon entered the apartment with a gun, resulting in a fight between the two men.
"Ultimately, Jasmine (Trujillo) took responsibility for her role," Jablonsky told jurors.
An autopsy found that Norsworthy died as a result of four broken ribs, with contributing factors including methamphetamine use and underlying health conditions. OMI initially listed the manner of his death as natural causes.
The case was not officially listed as a homicide until September 2024, about 17 months after his April 3, 2023, death.
Norsworthy's son, Donny Stafford, said he spent more than a year trying to convince Albuquerque police that his father had been murdered.
"They didn't act like it was a crime," Stafford said this week outside the courtroom. Even after family members tracked down Norsworthy's stolen Mercury Mountaineer, police refused to take possession of the vehicle or its contents as criminal evidence, he said.
Jablonsky said an APD detective was not assigned to the case until several weeks after the killing.
"He was working on this case in the background while he was working on other homicide cases," she told jurors.
A breakthrough in the case came when police found security video that prosecutors say shows Chacon and Trujillo outside Norsworthy's apartment the day of the killing, Jablonsky said. That evidence turned up in the course of a separate murder investigation, she said.
Olivier Uyttebrouck covers the court system. You can reach him at olivier@abqjournal.com.