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A 20-year-old man was sentenced Tuesday to 40 years in prison in a pair of 2023 shooting deaths, including the killing of a teenager recorded on security video at a Northwest sa国际传媒官网网页入口 park.

Andres Herrera pleaded no contest in 2025 to two counts of first-degree murder in killings that occurred when Herrera was 16 years old. He was prosecuted as an adult in both cases.

Herrera entered plea agreements in the shooting deaths of Phillip Apodaca, 27, in October 2023, and Damion Alday, 19, in December of the same year.

Second Judicial District Judge Britt Baca took the unusual step Tuesday of holding Herrera's sentencing hearing remotely by video to avoid a repeat of emotional outbursts by members of the victims' families at Herrera's first sentencing hearing on April 14.

The disturbance, which included cheering in the gallery and a protest in front of the Bernalillo County Courthouse, prompted the judge to clear the courtroom and order a 30-day delay in the proceeding.

At the April 14 hearing, prosecutors showed photos taken from security video showing Herrera's actions in both killings.

"It appeared this slideshow greatly affected the families of the decedents based on gasps and audible sounds made by the family members," Baca wrote in a May 7 order.

The mother of one of the victims then made a statement saying, "I will keep hoping and praying that one day I receive a call telling me that you are dead. I pray it is a slow and painful death." Some people in the gallery cheered in response to the statement, Baca wrote.

The judge then ordered deputies to remove disruptive people from the gallery. Bernalillo County Sheriff's deputies "attempted to remove disruptive family members in small groups through the rear exit," she wrote. "The disruptive family members' behavior continued to escalate."

Baca ultimately halted the sentencing hearing and ordered Tuesday's hearing to be held remotely.

Apodaca was fatally shot on Oct. 6, 2023, outside the now-shuttered ReSource Brewing Co. near Candelaria and Eubank NE.

In Alday's killing, sa国际传媒官网网页入口 police responded on Dec. 27, 2023, to a call of shots fired at Sundoro Park in the 9500 block of Endee Road NW, where police found Alday with multiple gunshot wounds to his head.

Security video from the park showed Alday and Herrera get out of the cars and begin arguing, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. Alday fell to the ground and the two exchanged gunfire.

Herrera then retrieved an assault-style rifle from the trunk of a Mazda and shot Alday multiple times, prosecutors said. Police used surveillance video and license plate readers to connect Herrera to both killings.

Police later found an Instagram post in which Herrera admitted that he shot Alday with a Glock handgun, a complaint said.

Olivier Uyttebrouck covers courts for the Journal. He can be reached at olivier@abqjournal.com.