Quintana release: Governor accuses district attorney of incompetence

Governor Susana Martinez had harsh words for Third Judicial District Attorney Mark D’Antonio concerning the acquittal of Justin Quintana, who is accused of killing his mother.

“The way it has transpired thus far is complete incompetence on the part of the district attorney,” Martinez told ABC-7 in an exclusive interview.

Quintana was arrested in 2007 after police say he fatally shot his mother, Susan Kuchma, a state police officer at the time. Quintana was at the New Mexico Behavioral Health Institute, previously the Las Vegas Medical Center, for more than a decade.

However, Quintana was released after the Behavioral Health Institute found him competent to stand trial, according to sources within the New Mexico Department of Health.

“Charges need to be pending against him, he needs to be in jail, and that district attorney needs to aggressively prosecute, which are his responsibilities,” Martinez said.

ABC-7 has obtained documents showing Quintana was acquitted on February 16th for the murder of his mother.

“You cannot have an acquittal if you don’t have a trial,” Governor Martinez said. “There hasn’t been a trial; there’s no jury; there’s no judge; no full-blown trial of all witnesses. If they want to claim insanity at the time of the offense, that is a jury instruction that is a question that is asked of the jury and they have to answer that question.”

Martinez also insists Kuchma’s husband was never notified of the court proceedings. She told ABC-7 that’s a violation of the New Mexico Victims of Crime Act.

“The survivor, Patrick Kuchma, was not properly advised of this hearing,” Martinez said.

ABC-7 has made multiple attempts over two days to effort an on-camera interview with D’Antonio, to no avail. ABC-7 asked if D’Antonio would comment following a press conference at the police department.

“I’m sorry, I appreciate that,” D’Antonio said. “I think I’ve already said enough about that anyway.”