Man pleads guilty to killing another man during fight in Las Cruces

A man accused of beating another man to death in Las Cruces pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

According to court documents, 20-year-old Taylor James Enriquez admitted to striking Alberto Nuñez-Lopez, 23, in the neck with a shovel and hitting him over the head with a beer bottle during a 2017 altercation at the 600 block of Manzanita Street.

A man who lived at the home found Nuñez-Lopez on the ground. Enriquez said the man tried to punch him, and that Enriquez threw the man to the ground, held him down and punched his face.

Enriquez also pleaded guilty to one count each of aggravated battering resulting in bodily harm and false imprisonment.

Enriquez faces a maximum sentence of 19 and a half years in prison.