With four-month-old Jaymz Dodge, Allison Gorman’s grandson in the center, family members stand together in loving memory of Allison after an evidentiary hearing last Friday.
BY COLLEEN KEANE
SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
ALBUQUERQUE — It has been more than two years since Allison Gorman and Kee Thompson, both Diné, were brutally beaten to death by three teenagers on the city’s west side during the early morning hours of July 19, 2014.
For the families, their grief has been constant and immeasurable.
As testified in front of 2nd District Judge Briana Zamora, they will never again hear the door slam behind them as their loved one calls out, “Hey everyone, I’m home!”
But, a few months ago, the Gormans’ spirits lifted when Jaymz Dodge, Allison’s grandson, was born.
“He looks like Allison when he was little,” said Alfred Gorman Sr., Allison’s father. With a smile, Gorman raised Jaymz up over his head.
“Allison was a rodeo rider, you know. He was always carrying around a saddle getting ready for the next rodeo,” he recalled sadly, missing his son.
Looking back at Jaymz, he said, “He’s going to be big and strong, just like him.”
Last Friday, Allison’s father, mother, and several other members of the Gorman family were once again in Zamora’s courtroom.
They had thought they were near the end of trials and hearings that have strung out since Alex Rios, then 18; Nathaniel Carrillo, then 16; and Gilbert Tafoya, then 15, were arrested and convicted of the murders.
“It’s stressful at these hearings. It brings back all the memories,” said Alberta Gorman Yazzie, Allison’s sister.
At the hearing, Assistant District Attorney Vincent Martinez, the state prosecutor, asked Judge Zamora to extend the date of Tafoya’s amenability hearing, which was scheduled for Feb. 24.
An amenability ruling will determine whether Tafoya is amenable to treatment either in a juvenile facility or an institute for children with developmental disabilities or mental disorders.
If he’s judged amenable to treatment, he could be out of institutional care when he turns 21 years old.
If he’s not considered amenable, he could be sentenced to 20 years or more (56 is the max), according to transcripts from Tafoya’s Sept. 16, 2015 court proceedings.
Martinez asked that the hearing be postponed because his office still hasn’t received information, like evaluation and discipline reports, on Tafoya since he’s been held at the Bernalillo County Youth Services Center, the youth detention center.
“We’re still in the discovery process,” he advised the court.
Tafoya is the last of the trio to be sentenced for beating and stabbing Allison and Kee to death as they slept in the empty lot near Tafoya’s home. Surprised by the attack with boards, bricks, and knives, they were unable to defend themselves.
Tafoya received the amenability hearing as part of the plea deal.
In the deal, he agreed to plead guilty to two counts of 2nd degree murder, armed robbery, aggravated battery, tampering with evidence, and conspiracy to commit armed robbery.
He also agreed to testify against his buddies, Rios and Carrillo.
Talking softly, answering in monosyllables, he made good on his part of the deal during Rios’ jury trial in 2015.
His testimony, testimony from police investigators, forensic specialists, along with physical evidence, including bloody clothes that were found in Tafoya’s bedroom, resulted in a guilty verdict for Rios and a plea deal for Carrillo.
Rios was sentenced to 67 years and 6 months.
Carrillo received 27 and 6 months years, unless he messes up while serving time.
From a review of legal definitions, courts appear to rule on amenability based on assessments, evaluation reports, the nature and seriousness of the crime, as well as the mental state and behavior of the defendant.
At the evidentiary hearing last Friday, Martinez gave the court a glimpse of Tafoya’s behavior since he has been detained.
Playing a video that captured an incident last year on Nov. 7, Martinez called upon two detention center officers as witnesses.
They confirmed that the playback showed Tafoya strangling another resident. One noted that he recalled the resident had “turned blue” by the time he received backup.
The senior detention officer testified that there was another incident when a resident ended up with scratches after an altercation with Tafoya.
Then, he mentioned he had witnessed Tafoya blacking out while seemingly hallucinating.
“Staring, with his fist clenched,” the officer recalled.
Tafoya has a B1 classification, the highest level for violence within the facility, according to the officer’s testimony.
Martinez also called Craig Sparks, director of the Bernalillo County Youth Services Center, as a witness.
Sparks testified that Tafoya has had good days and bad days that included blackouts and hallucinations and several negative incidents, such as “violence and threats of violence toward staff.”
Martinez also petitioned Zamora to move Tafoya out of the juvenile facility into an adult facility.
“He is an adult for all purposes, so he needs to be transferred,” he stated.