Murder suspect testifies in court, accused of killing El Paso Sheriff’s deputy

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- Facundo Chavez, the man accused of killing El Paso Sheriff's Deputy Peter Herrera, took the stand in his own defense Tuesday.

The defense questioned Chavez about the events of March 22, 2019, the day that Deputy Herrera was gunned down in San Elizario.

Chavez testified that he and his girlfriend at the time, Arlene Pina, were staying at a hotel on Airway and Montana.

Investigators say Pina was there at the time of the murder. She was originally arrested and charged with murder alongside Chavez, but took a plea deal and received a reduced manslaughter charge and 15 year sentence in May of 2022.

While on the stand Tuesday, Chavez testified that he and Pina were doing drugs while staying at the hotel.

Before the murder, Chavez says he and Pina traveled from the hotel to Pina's father's house in San Elizario.

The defense team played the dash camera footage of the shooting for jurors as Chavez testified.

Chavez says he saw a car driving towards him with its brights on and flashed his car's lights as a courtesy to let the driver know that the lights were on. Chavez says he did not release the other car was a sheriff's car. Chavez told the courtroom that he did not know who was driving the sheriff's car.

Chavez testified that Pina became "weird, freaking out, nervous, jumpy scared."

"We've been pulled over before, she never acted like that," Chavez told the courtroom.

Chavez says that when Herrera walked up to his car, Pina told him that Herrera was "the same deputy that has been harassing me, there's something that I haven't told you."

Chavez told the defense lawyers that Pina then pulled her gun out and put it on his lap. He testified that he did not know Pina had brought the gun. He testified that he became disoriented, telling the courtroom that the events happened very quickly.

The judge called for a recess before Chavez could finish narrating the events leading up to the murder.

The trial started last week with the prosecution calling several witnesses, including the arresting officer and El Paso's Chief Medical Examiner, as well as showing jurors dash and body camera footage of the murder.

The prosecution rested its case early Monday afternoon. The defense started to build its case Tuesday morning, calling Chavez himself to take the stand.

ABC-7 has had a crew inside of the courtroom for the entire trial. Count on us to bring you complete team coverage until the verdict comes down.