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The New Mexico Supreme Court this week tossed Roman Cerna's first-degree murder conviction in a 2020 fatal shooting and ordered a lower court judge to instead enter a judgment on a lesser charge of second-degree murder.

A jury in 2024 convicted Cerna, 30, of the crime in the fatal shooting of 23-year-old Chance Elkshoulder in the parking lot of a Southeast sa国际传媒官网网页入口 smoke shop. 

The state's highest court ruled Thursday that prosecutors failed to show that Cerna acted with "deliberate intent" to kill Elkshoulder 鈥� an element required for a conviction of first-degree willful and deliberate murder.

Prosecutors presented sufficient evidence that Cerna fired the fatal gunshots based on security video and other corroborating evidence, Justice Briana Zamora wrote for the unanimous five-member court.

"Although we hold there was sufficient evidence identifying (Cerna) as the shooter, we conclude that the State did not meet its burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that (Cerna) acted with deliberate intent," Zamora wrote.

"To prove a defendant had the deliberate intention to kill as required for first-degree murder, the state must introduce evidence that the defendant thought about the killing," she wrote.

The lesser charge likely will reduce Cerna's prison term. A first-degree murder conviction required Cerna to serve at least 30 years in prison before he became eligible for parole. Second-degree murder has a basic sentence of 18 years in prison.

Jurors deliberated about five hours in June 2024 following Cerna's trial in 2nd Judicial District Court before Judge David Murphy.

Elkshoulder was fatally shot in front of his teenage sister, who had taken him to buy cigarettes at the Dank Smoke Shop, 901 San Pedro SE. Jurors were shown store security video that captured the shooting and events leading up to it.

As Elkshoulder exited the store, a man in dark clothing called him over. Moments later, the man shot Elkshoulder, then got on a motorcycle and exited the parking lot.

Cerna was identified as a suspect in early 2021 after images were released through a Crime Stoppers bulletin. However, the detective originally assigned to the case left the unit, resulting in lengthy delays in the investigation, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.

Police arrested Cerna in June 2023, nearly three years after the July 12, 2020, killing, after another investigator was assigned to the case.

Justices rejected arguments by prosecutors that Cerna's actions demonstrated deliberate intent because he fired multiple shots at Elkshoulder and rummaged through a bag prior to the shooting.

"The fact that (Cerna) fired several shots is not, in and of itself, sufficient to support an inference of deliberation," Zamora wrote. "There is simply no evidence from which a juror could rationally infer that (Cerna) was considering whether to kill (Elkshoulder) while rummaging in the bag or even that he was aware of (Elkshoulder) at all."

Olivier Uyttebrouck covers the court system. You can reach him at olivier@abqjournal.com.