Santa Fe man pleads no contest to manslaughter charge in DJ's fatal shooting, receives probation

Sep. 4—A deal with prosecutors allows a Santa Fe man accused in the fatal shooting of a radio DJ to spend another year and three months on supervised probation in exchange for a plea of no contest to a count of voluntary manslaughter.

Edwin Anaya, 37, accepted the plea deal during a Wednesday hearing in state District Court. He was sentenced to five years of supervised probation in the January 2021 killing of 40-year-old KSFR DJ Pete Gurule — a father of two young sons — but received credit for more than three years of time he already has served.

Several of Gurule's family members spoke at the hearing, delivering more than an hour of testimony about their feelings of loss over his death and their disappointment over what they consider a lenient penalty for the man who killed him.

A March 2023 jury trial in the case ended in a mistrial, with the jury acquitting Anaya of second-degree murder and deadlocking on the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.

Jurors voted 8-4 in favor of a guilty verdict for the manslaughter charge.

Prosecutors and law enforcement alleged Anaya shot Gurule in the early morning hours of Jan. 18, 2021, after the two had been drinking at Gurule's home in Santa Fe. Anaya left the house after the shooting and called 911. Police found him lying on a sidewalk, bloodied and intoxicated, and scarcely clothed, court documents said.

Anaya argued he had shot Gurule in self-defense, claiming Gurule had sexually assaulted him and that the two had engaged in a fight.

Anaya's plea Wednesday included a conditional discharge, meaning if he completes the supervised probation without violations, the felony conviction will be wiped away.

However, Deputy District Attorney Anthony Long said, if Anaya violates the terms of his probation, he could face a six-year prison sentence.

Long noted the conviction included a firearm sentencing enhancement.

If the case were to proceed to a second trial, Long told the court, prosecutors would prove Anaya unlawfully killed Gurule during a quarrel "without malice" and "in the heat of passion."

The plea deal was negotiated after "careful consideration" and after conversations with Gurule's family, the attorney said, adding family members "did not want to go through another trial."

Anaya's defense attorney, Tom Clark, called the deal an "agreeable resolution" in an interview after the hearing.

"It was a hard case, and — given the jury's split after the first trial — this was a fair resolution, considering that our client understood the risk of a second trial," Clark said.

Gurule's widow, Amber Gurule, asked to directly address Anaya, a request granted by District Judge T. Glenn Ellington.

While projecting images of watercolor and crayon artwork by her two sons — who were 3 and 5 when their father was killed — Amber Gurule condemned what she called Anaya's "horrible, selfish decision to kill Pete that night," leaving her boys without a father.

"I can never be the father and the male role model that their developing minds should have, because that was Pete's job," she said. "This world doesn't need any more angry men like you and like Pete — look at what can happen when two drunken, emotionally damaged men get together: violence."

She displayed a photograph of an "altar" to Pete Gurule one of her sons made recently, with a framed picture of his father, a pair of sunglasses, a small ceramic bowl and some other knickknacks.

"I really wish you were being given a stronger sentence," Amber Gurule told Anaya. "I believe you deserve to serve some time in a real jail cell — not in your dad's home, in your own bed each night, spending holidays and birthdays with your family, unlike us with Pete."

The victim's youngest brother, Matthew Gurule, also denounced what he called a "slap on the wrist" for Anaya.

"If this man can escape detrimental consequences, what message does that send to our community?" he said. "Does it mean that the value of life has been diminished, that taking a life in a moment of recklessness is forgivable?"

Anaya apologized to Pete Gurule's family members in a brief comment he delivered at the end of the hearing.

"I'm sorry for the events of that night, and I apologize to the family," Anaya said. "This is something that I'm going to have to live with and that they're going to have to live with, and I'm sorry for that."

Ellington chastised Anaya during the hearing for "deciding to take a firearm into someone else's home when you knew you were going to get hammered."

The judge said "there were many times when things could've deescalated, and both of you would be alive today."