COURTS
Trial begins in 2024 killing at ABQ apartment
Gunman shot through a door, killing 33-year-old Barbara Chavez
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Testimony began Monday in the trial of a man prosecutors say fired a series of gunshots through the door of an apartment in Southeast Albuquerque, fatally shooting a woman in the head in 2024.
Houston Coate, 33, is charged with second-degree murder and first-degree felony murder in the Aug. 29, 2024, shooting death of Barbara "Barbie" Chavez, 33, in an apartment in the 1000 block of Valencia SE, near San Mateo and Gibson.
Police found Chavez shot in the head with a cellphone nearby that had a bullet hole through it, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.
Coate's attorney, Keren Fenderson, said in opening statements that prosecutors will be unable to show that Coate fired the gunshots that killed Chavez.
"Houston Coate didn't kill anyone," Fenderson told jurors. "Someone else did."
Fenderson argued that the likely target of the shooting was Bryce Stephens, who was inside the apartment at the time Chavez was shot and made a 911 call reporting the incident to police.
Stephens himself was later shot and killed while Coate was in custody, Fenderson told jurors.
Stephens, 33, was found dead inside a vehicle that crashed on Oct. 3, 2024, at Wilson Park in the 6100 block of Anderson SE, Albuquerque police said in a statement. Police later determined that Stephens, the driver, had been struck by a gunshot before the crash.
Coate has remained in custody since his arrest on Sept. 27, 2024, according to Metropolitan Detention Center records.
Fenderson argued that Stephens' killing showed that someone other than Coate had a motive to fire the fatal gunshots into the apartment.
"Although Barbie (Chavez) is dead, the likely target was Bryce Stephens, who was also killed while Mr. Coate was in custody," Fenderson told jurors. "At the end of all the evidence, the state will not be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Houston Coate pulled that trigger."
Prosecutors played a recording of a 911 call Stephens made in the minutes after Chavez鈥檚 fatal shooting, reporting that "Houston shot through the door seven times," striking Chavez.
The prosecution's first witness, Crystal Martinez, testified Monday that she had been inside the apartment braiding Stephens' hair when she heard a loud banging on the door. "It was loud, definitely scary," she testified.
Martinez told police that day that she heard a man yelling, "I want my s***."
Martinez also said she peered through the door peephole, but in her testimony she could not recall what she saw outside.
After listening to a recording of her interview with police the day of the shooting, Martinez testified that she told a detective that she had seen "Houston" through the peephole and backed away from the door. Moments later she heard multiple gunshots and Stephens pulled her to the floor, she said.
"Everyone was panicked and scared," Martinez told jurors. Chavez, who had been lying on the couch in the living room, was injured in the gunfire, she said.
