Pled guilty to murdering 3 people in 2017

CONEJOS COUNTY — Santos Nevares, who pled guilty in 2018 to two counts of first-degree murder with deliberation and one count of second-degree murder following a January 2017 shooting in Capulin, has been granted a hearing in Conejos County District Court based on a motion in which he claims that he did not voluntarily agree to pleading guilty in the case and the defense attorneys representing him were ineffective.

The incident that led to Nevares’ guilty plea took place on Jan. 15, 2017. According to Sylvia Lobato — a former Conejos County Citizen reporter who obtained a copy of the arrest affidavit — Nevares, 25, allegedly went to a birthday party for Guadalupe Cervantes. Cervantes was celebrating his 57th birthday with a few family members and friends at his home just outside Capulin when Nevares showed up at his house and began shooting.

Nevares had reportedly encountered the group earlier at the town bar, became belligerent and followed them home after a football game was over. The shootings began about 6 p.m.

Lobato reported that, upon arriving shortly after the incident began, deputies with the Conejos County Sheriff’s Office discovered two men deceased, a young woman critically wounded with a gunshot wound to the head and a young man screaming in a nearby field.

Nevares was arrested after a stolen van he drove from the scene got stuck in the snow a few miles from the site of the shooting. He was described as intoxicated and armed, allegedly threatening officers who approached.

He claimed he had no memory of what happened before he was arrested.

According to the arrest affidavit, Lobato reported, Jose M. Archuleta, 54, was in a running Ford Thunderbird and died of a gunshot wound to the head.

Cervantes was found clinging to life with a gunshot wound to the head, but died after officers began performing CPR.

Screaming in a nearby field led officers to 34-year-old Don L. “Kinki” Martinez who suffered a gunshot wound to the chest. He was flown to a hospital outside the area and eventually recovered.

The affidavit stated that Marissa Cervantez, 30, had suffered a gunshot wound to the head and was lying under a blanket near the Ford. She was flown on life support to St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood, where she died.

Nevares was initially charged with 31 various felony counts, including three counts of murder in the first degree with deliberation, one count of murder in the second degree and 26 counts of crimes of violence, which enhance the sentencing.

As part of the resolution in which Nevares agreed to plead guilty, all but three charges were dismissed — two counts of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder — in exchange for the prosecution agreeing to not seek the death penalty.

On the two counts of murder in the first degree with deliberation, Nevares was sentenced to the Department of Corrections where he would serve two life sentences without the possibility of parole and, for the second-degree murder charge, 48 years. Judge Martin Gonzales, presiding, ruled those sentences would be served consecutively — that is, one completed before serving the next — which meant Nevares would be in prison for the rest of his life.

In Colorado, people convicted of crimes can pursue post-conviction relief to cancel or nullify their verdicts or sentences handed down in court. Also referred to as a 35(c) motion, the petition spells out to the court all the ways that the defendant was denied his or her constitutional rights to a fair trial and sentence.

Although the statute of limitations applies to petty crimes, misdemeanors, and some felony crimes, people convicted of class one felonies — which Nevares pled guilty on two counts to committing — can file a 35(c) motion at any time after conviction.

The hearing, scheduled for Friday in Conejos County court, was granted after Nevares filed two 35(c) motions and a ruling by the Court of Appeals.

According to DA Anne Kelly, who will handle the case, Nevares filed his first petition in April 2019 without an attorney's help. Nevares was then able to obtain an attorney who filed a supplement to the first motion in December of 2019, eight months after the first motion was filed.

In his petition to the court, Nevares alleges that his attorneys coerced him into pleading guilty by telling him, as Kelly describes it, “the death penalty was bad.” Nevares also said that his team of attorneys did not investigate the case as they should have, a point Kelly refutes.

“I’m not giving any commentary,” Kelly told the Valley Courier. “This is a fact. (Santos Nevares) had three very experienced death penalty lawyers from the public defenders office working on his case.”

In his petition to the court, Nevares also claims that he suffered medical issues right before he took the plea that rendered him incapable of making a voluntary decision. Kelly confirms that Nevares went to the hospital for septic issues prior to the plea hearing but his attorneys at the time “verified with the court that he agreed with the plea and his agreement was voluntary.”

Kelly also notes that Nevares’ attorneys had instructed him not to say anything at the plea and sentencing hearing. Yet, after he pleaded guilty and against the advice of his attorneys, Nevares turned to the families and told them how sorry he was.

Nevares’ two motions had to be heard in the district court of Conejos County. Since Judge Martin Gonzales has retired, Chief District Judge Michael Gonzales presided over the case.

After reviewing both motions, Chief Judge Gonzales denied Nevares’ motion for a hearing.

“Essentially,” Kelly says, “Judge Gonzales said that, after reviewing the pleadings filed by both parties – the defense’s arguments for a hearing and the prosecution’s response to the defense - he did not believe there were grounds articulated that would warrant reversal of the guilty plea and denied the motion.”

Nevares and his attorney then took the case to the Court of Appeals who ruled – not that the guilty plea should be reversed but that Judge Gonzales should have granted Nevares a hearing where he could present his case in court.

That ruling by the Court of Appeals led to the hearing scheduled for Friday, April 28 in Conejos County District Court. DA Kelly has told the Valley Courier she plans to ask for a postponement.

“This is a huge case,” she says. “I have to get a list of witnesses and subpoenas and review all the details of the case. I need time to prepare before going into court.”

It should be noted that, at the time Nevares fatally shot three people and seriously injured a fourth, the death penalty was allowable in Colorado. However, in March of 2020, the Colorado legislature passed a bill to repeal the death penalty for individuals for crimes committed after July 1, 2020.