Chan’s defense disputes accuracy of audio recorded night of killing

The jury in the Tai Chan murder retrial heard the tense moments recorded after officers responded to the Hotel Encanto the night of the killing.

Chan, a former Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Deputy, is accused of shooting and killing his partner, Jeremy Martin inside the hotel. The men were spending the night in Las Cruces after dropping off a prisoner in Arizona.

Chan’s first trial ended a mistrial when the jury was unable to reach a verdict. The defense argues Chan killed Martin in self-defense.

Monday, an audio recording from an officer’s lapel pin revealed Chan was yelling and saying there was a bomb inside the hotel. He yelled everyone should get out of the building, stating he was a police officer.

“You think I’m lying?” Chan says in the recording. “I’m trying to save y’alls lives!”

An officer is then heard asking, “how do you know that there’s a bomb in there?”

Chan replies, “I don’t know. I don’t know. but everybody out. Everybody out. Everybody out. Everybody out! I don’t care if it’s wrong. I don’t care if it’s (expletive) a (expletive) bogus call. I don’t give a (expletive) dude. Just check it out. I’d rather save all of y’alls lives.”

While the recording played, Chan’s defense attorney told the judge the recording did not match the transcript.

Judge Fernando Macias told the jury to take a short break. During the break, the defense claimed the audio was re-edited by the state, and was different from last year’s trial.

The prosecution said there was no re-editing of the audio. Judge Macias decided to switch to another witness, so the prosecution and defense had time to check the audio again.

When leaving the courtroom, Prosecutor Davis Ruark and Defense Attorney John Day got into a heated exchange. Ruark could be heard saying, “I did not do anything to the tape.”

Later in court, the defense argued the recording left out statements like “I was scared for my life” and “he shot at me first.” It argues those statements are needed to prove Chan acted in self-defense.

“Our IT person did pull up the original and did indicate that this was pulled directly from the original,” Ruark said.

Later in the day, the jury heard from Las Cruces Police Crime Scene Technician Geronimo Barreras, who recorded video inside the Hotel Encanto shortly after the shooting.

The footage shows shell casings scattered throughout the hallway, along with evidence markers. There was what appeared to be blood on the wall inside the hallway. There was also blood on a bed inside the bedroom. Video also showed a gun inside the stairwell, where the prosecution says Chan was hiding after the shooting.

After the jury was sent home for the day, the defense filed a motion to dismiss the case, citing prosecutorial misconduct in relation to the audio recording issue. The judge denied that motion, but he did say the missing audio was suspicious. He asked the District Attorney to provide a full review of what happened with the audio at the conclusion of the trial.