Milan murder suspect returned from California

By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

Angel Arrendondo

GRANTS — Angel “Mouse” Arrendondo will face a first-degree murder charge in the 13th Judicial District Court in Grants after serving the past four years in the California prison system.

He has a jury trial date set on Feb. 18 to face charges of: First-degree murder; assault with intent to commit a violent felony; child abuse; tampering with evidence; shooting an inhabited dwelling; criminal damage to property, more than $1,000; and firearm enhancement.

A pretrial conference to determine the status of both the prosecution and defense has been set for Feb. 8, 2008.
Arrendondo allegedly shot and killed Alfedo Aragon, 60, and shot Emiliano Quintana on Nov. 22, 2003, in Milan, allegedly during a drug deal that went awry, and a few days later fled to Southern California.

He was arrested in Harbor City, Calif., a suburb of Los Angeles by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s department anti-gang task force on Dec. 27, 2003, on the felony warrant for the alleged murder in Milan and for violating probation on previous counts of felony theft in Southern California.

When the task force was notified on Arrendondo’s murder warrant they immediately knew who he was from a number of previous contacts with him, according to a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department arrest report.

A probation officer in California told the Independent at the time that Arrendondo had returned to “familiar” surroundings where he knew the people and the gang in which he was a member.

Arrendondo was a member of the “Harbor Lomas” gang from Southern California and has the initials “HL” tattooed on the back of his neck in 3-inch high block letters, Milan police said at the time of the incident.

He was seen in Grants at least twice in the first 10 days following the incident but law enforcement authorities were not able to find him.

Following his arrest in Harbor City, Arrendondo spent the following four years in the California state prison system.

He created several situations while in prison that added time to his sentence, most likely to keep from being extradited to New Mexico to face the murder charge, local law enforcement officials have speculated at times during the past four years.

Arrendondo is currently in custody in the Cibola County Detention Center on a no-bond hold following his extradition to Cibola County to face the murder and other charges. He was arraigned about a week-and-a-half ago in District Court and pleaded innocent.

“Murder cases are very complex cases, and the district attorney’s office is conscious of what it is doing in each case. And we make sure every ‘i’ is dotted and every ‘t’ is crossed,” 13th Judicial District Attorney Lemuel Martinez said.

“The judge is careful not to violate the defendant’s rights, as is the district attorney, yet we do try to get a conviction,” he said.

Martinez said his office will not seek the death penalty in this case because it does not fit the seven criteria for the death penalty in New Mexico: killing a witness; killing a child after a criminal sexual penetration; killing a police officer; murder for hire; killing an inmate or corrections officers during an escape; killing a person who is kidnapped or sexually penetrated; and killing an inmate in a penal institution.

“Murder cases can take 11ž2 to two years to come to trial,” Martinez said.

To contact reporter Jim Tiffin call (505) 287-2197
or e-mail: jtiffin.independent@yahoo.com.