ALAMOSA — After roughly 100 people were summoned for jury duty with selection taking two full days, the trial of 17-year-old Daniel Brandt got underway on Wednesday.
Brandt has been charged with two counts of criminal conspiracy to commit first degree murder, three counts of assault in the first degree, one count of illegal discharge of a firearm and one count of criminal mischief for his involvement in allegedly shooting Alamosa Police Department Officer Mollee Heeney and a second victim, Ricardo Rangel, on Oct. 27, 2022.
The opening statement for the prosecution was made by 12th Judicial Deputy District Attorney Carle Tarnutzer-Decker, who is assisting District Attorney Anne Kelly in prosecuting the case. DA Anne Kelly will be handling the questioning of witnesses.
Tarnutzer-Decker opened her statement to the jury by playing an audio tape of Officer Mollee Heeney screaming, “Please, please, don’t let me die.”
She then took the jury of five men and nine women, including two alternates, through a description of events, detailing Officer Heeney’s gunshot wounds to her shoulder and “shattering,” her femur, her arrival on the scene, the preceding altercation between Brandt and his aunt, Delia Malouff, that initiated the call to 911, a visitor staying at a house down the street by the name of Rangel – one of the shooting victims – choosing to come to the scene to intervene and yelling at Brandt to leave. Tarnutzer-Decker said Brandt then “swings” at Rangel and a struggle ensues, during which a gun fell from Rangel’s pocket, which Brandt picked up and he allegedly used in shooting Rangel and Officer Heeney.
The evidence in the trial would be separated into three categories, Tarnutzer-Decker said. The jury will hear from witnesses, including testimony from Officer Heeney and Rangel, eyewitness account from Adams State Police Chief, “plenty” of officers with the Alamosa Police Department and others. Evidence will also include photos of “unthinkable violence” and body cam footage from officers. Plus, she said, evidence will include statements Daniel Brandt made after the shooting that show his intentions.
“Daniel Brandt was out of control,” Tarnutzer-Decker said. “He tried to kill two people. [His] actions were intentional and with deliberation, and the intention was to kill.”
Cobea Becker, one of the two juvenile defense attorneys representing Brandt, then made her opening statement. “This case is a matter of perspective,” she told the jury.
Becker’s description of the events of Oct. 27, 2022, began much earlier in the day, which started off as a “normal day.”
Brandt had asked his aunt to take him to school where he met up with some friends. “That led to a day of bad decisions,” Becker said, when Brandt went to the park with a friend and drank “Twisted Tea”, an alcoholic beverage. “He drank to excess.” Brandt and his friend then decided to take the Ortega Middle School bus home where “Daniel was so drunk he has to hold on the seats to walk down the aisle.”
He “sees a pretty girl” on the bus and repeatedly asks for her number. The girl calls Esteban Garcia, a close friend of her mother’s, who met her and her brother at the bus stop. That led to a confrontation between Garcia and Brandt. Brandt then went to the house of his aunt, who had just received a call from Garcia. That led to another verbal altercation – this time, with his aunt – and her physically shoving him out of the house. Brandt then breaks his aunt’s window.
“Daniel Brandt is angry. He’s drunk. He’s being challenged about his behavior,” Becker said.
Becker then described the physical altercation with Rangel, Brandt, now in possession of the gun, the arrival of Officer Heeney, who saw Brandt shoot Rangel, and Heeney yelling at Brandt to “drop the gun.”
“Everyone was panicked,” Becker told the jury. “Even Mollee Heeney. Nothing indicates Daniel Brandt had the intention to kill anyone.”
Becker closed her statement by telling the jury, “What you need to decide and pay attention to is the facts. Daniel Brandt was a drunk kid who never intended to kill anyone.”
This is the second time the attorneys involved in the case – DA Kelly, for the state, and juvenile defense attorneys Becker and Maralina Schoenfelder – have been in the court of District Judge Krista Newmyer-Olsen in a case involving Brandt.
The first time was during Brandt’s transfer hearing, where Newmyer-Olsen ruled in favor of the people and Brandt was ordered to be tried as an adult.
Like much of the transfer hearing, the first day of this trial was punctuated by contention and numerous objections by both the defense and the prosecution. The frequent “back and forth” between counsel, as Newmyer-Olsen described it, was enough to prompt her to issue an order of civility.
At the end of Wednesday’s proceedings, all attorneys agreed that frequent objections were slowing down the process while jurors sat and waited, and consensus was reached about ways to possibly expedite objections, moving proceedings along more quickly.
Brandt if found guilty, will be subject to sentencing in the Department of Corrections for a range of 32 years to 96, depending upon how the judge orders time served. He will also be one of only .4% of people incarcerated who are under the age of 19.
According to the court docket, the trial is expected to last through Wednesday, May 15.
