Judge declares mistrial in Tai Chan Murder Trial

Judge Fernando Macias declared a mistrial after the jury deliberating the fate of Tai Chan failed to reach a verdict Tuesday following more than 13 hours of deliberations.

Chan, a former Santa Fe County sheriff’s deputy, is charged with First Degree Murder. He’s accused of killing his colleague Jeremy Martin at the Hotel Encanto in 2014. The deputies planned to spend the night in Las Cruces after dropping off a prisoner in Arizona. Chan claims he killed Martin in self-defense after the two got into a fight inside their hotel room.

Barring a plea deal, Chan will have to stand trial again. “It’s hard. I mean I thought self defense was fighting for your life and now I’m fighting for my freedom,” Chan said Tuesday. “I don’t think words can describe (the feeling in the courtroom). Nervous, scared, terrified – all of those into one.”

The judge polled the jury and learned not a single member thought Chan was “not guilty,” a single member thought Chan was guilty of First Degree Murder, six members thought Chan was guilty of Second Degree Murder, and five members of the jury thought Chan was guilty of Voluntary Manslaughter.

“All jurors agreed to convict Tai Chan but could not agree to which degree of criminal homicide,” District Attorney Mark D’Antonio said. “We plan on retrying the case as soon as the court can set a date and will continue to pursue the best result for Jeremy Martin and his family.”

Several of the victim’s relatives stormed out of the courtroom in tears after Judge Macias announced his decision.

The prosecution and the defense made their final cases before jurors during closing arguments Monday.

“His conduct that evening was that of an intoxicated little frat boy,” Deputy District Attorney Gerald Byers said, “Somebody who could no accept the reality that he just got punched in the nose and he didn’t like it.”

“There is no first degree murder here,” defense attorney John Day argued, “There is no careful planning or preparation of thought in what happened that night.”

It’s been a tense couple of weeks. The jury has heard emotional testimony from numerous witnesses. Then on Friday, Chan himself took the stand giving his side of what happened the night of the killing.

“I knew if I didn’t have his gun, I was going to die,” Chan said.

Chan said the two got in an argument over a double homicide case in Santa Fe. He claims Martin told him the two teens involved “deserved to die.” After a night of drinking, Chan said they went back to the hotel and that’s when things got violent.

He says Martin punched him repeatedly and hit him with his gun. He alleges Martin threatened to shoot him. Chan’s girlfriend was on the phone with him, listening to it all.

‘”Your first thought was what?” Defense Attorney Thomas Clark said.

“That Tai was dead,” Leah Tafoya-Chan, who is now Chan’s wife, said.

The prosecution says the killing was willful and deliberate. While Chan admitted to killing Martin, he says it was in self-defense.

If convicted, Chan faces life in prison.