Santa Fe sheriff’s deputy pleads not guilty to murder charge in death of colleague

Santa Fe Sheriff’s Deputy Tai Chan, charged with an open count of murder in the shooting death of his colleague, was arraigned Wednesday afternoon in a Las Cruces courtroom.

Chan pleaded not guilty to the charge. An open count of murder means the state has not decided what felony count of murder he will face.

Chan didn’t react much when Judge Kent Wingenroth ruled he would not be granting Chan bond at this time.

The judge said more information from the investigation was needed before setting anything.

Chan appeared in court with his attorney, John Day, via closed-circuit video from the Dona Ana Detention Center.

Chan’s family were in the courtroom and were silent and somber during the hearing.

The family did not comment after the hearing.

“I’ll let the facts play out,” Third Judicial District Attorney Mark D’Antonio said when asked to comment on the case. “As you know, these kinds of murder investigations, there’s tons of forensics information that are vitally important. I want to make sure every interview, every witness is interviewed. I’m goin to give the police all the time they need to conduct a proper and complete investigation. I’m very confident the police will do that.”

Day said that their own investigation is showing things differently than the criminal complaint.

“The facts we’ve learned in our initial investigation are significantly different than those outlined in the document filed by the police investigators,” Day said. “I would caution anyone who’s using that as a basis, making decisions about this case prematurely.”

ABC-7’s I Team obtained the criminal complaint filed against Chan. It reveals more details about what happened the night he allegedly shot and killed his colleague, Deputy Jeremy Martin.

Chan and Martin were returning to Santa Fe on Sunday from dropping a prisoner off in Safford, Arizona when they stopped in Las Cruces for the night.

Here is a timeline of events, according to the criminal complaint.

According to the document, while in Las Cruces Chan contacted a friend, Joshua Sexauer, at about 8 p.m. Oct. 27 about meeting up for some beers.

Sexauer and another friend picked up Chan and Martin at Hotel Encanto. Sexauer told police later that Chan and Martin had already been drinking.

They all went to Dublin’s restaurant where Chan and Martin continued to drink and got into a heated argument, even pointing fingers at each other, according to the criminal complaint.

The document does not state what they were arguing about.

Sexauer said in the criminal complaint that he had never seen Chan become hostile like that before and that the bartender even had to separate them at one point.

Sexauer left the bar with Chan telling him they would catch a cab back to the hotel.

At about 12:31 a.m. Oct. 28, Sexauer received a phone call from Chan’s girlfriend, Leah Tafoya, asking him to check on Chan.

Tafoya told Sexauer that she was on the phone with Chan when she heard someone yell “please don’t, please don’t” before hearing gunshots.

Las Cruces Police officers arrived at Hotel Encanto after receiving several 911 calls about shots being fired and a wounded man in the lobby. The wounded man was Martin. (Editor’s Note: Listen to the 911 calls by clicking on the link under Related Content to the left of this article)

Officers found Martin bleeding profusely and drove him to Memorial Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

Officers combing the hotel for a suspect when they heard Chan announce himself to them in the stairwell, adding that he had a gun. They ordered him to put his hands up and surrender and he complied.

He was found on the landing to the hotel’s roof with a semi-automatic glock where he was.

Chan told a Las Cruces Police officer, “I shot the guy,” and that the person was his friend, according to the criminal complaint. Police noted that Chan smelled of alcohol and was slurring his words.

Officers found blood stains in room 711, the room Chan and Martin were checked into and also found several bullet strikes and shell casings inside and near room 711, as well as on the 7 th floor.