Episode 324

<v Speaker 1>Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence, and is
<v Speaker 1>not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised.
<v Speaker 2>We don't have another pace to go for get better.
<v Speaker 3>You appreciate that as a dead girl on your porch.
<v Speaker 4>Right, yeah, I don't have an option either.
<v Speaker 1>Fifteen year old Frankie Archiletta is running as fast as
<v Speaker 1>he can. Each step kicks up a cloud of dust
<v Speaker 1>as one four Cabresto road shrinks behind him. That's where
<v Speaker 1>police were supposed to go, but they missed it, and
<v Speaker 1>now Frankie has to find them. His lungs burn, partly
<v Speaker 1>from the running, but mostly from panic. Finally he sees
<v Speaker 1>the red and blue lights getting closer. Frankie frantically waves
<v Speaker 1>his arms, trying to flag them down. The cruiser barely
<v Speaker 1>slows to a stop before Frankie jumps in the back seat.
<v Speaker 2>Here this turn Centena nor the gate.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah there's the gates.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah yeah, yeah, fa yeah yeah, just go in. I know, dude,
<v Speaker 2>I'll do.
<v Speaker 1>It's July twenty eighth, twenty twenty three, and earlier in
<v Speaker 1>the afternoon, multiple calls came into the Questa Police department.
<v Speaker 1>A thirteen year old girl has been shot somewhere on
<v Speaker 1>Cabresto Road. But his dispatch tried to confirm the details.
<v Speaker 1>Everything blurred into confusion, wrong addresses, contradictory witness statements, even
<v Speaker 1>someone mentioning that the shooting was a drive by. By
<v Speaker 1>the time police and ems arrived, they weren't sure which
<v Speaker 1>house was the right one.
<v Speaker 3>She's she said, I think, well, I don't know. She's
<v Speaker 3>on the ground somewhere.
<v Speaker 5>They're locked from the down door.
<v Speaker 3>Poorsville foretels.
<v Speaker 1>They've already wasted precious minutes. Meanwhile, Frankie's sister is bleeding out.
<v Speaker 5>They can come by if they want, or they can
<v Speaker 5>patrol the area. I have a possible suspect vehicle of
<v Speaker 5>a black yukon tinted windows and No.
<v Speaker 6>Twenty eight.
<v Speaker 1>Frankie and the growing squad of quest of police officers
<v Speaker 1>run towards the patch of dry dirt near the back
<v Speaker 1>porch attached to the house. All the properties off Cabresto
<v Speaker 1>Road are rural and sprawling. There are plots of land
<v Speaker 1>with blurred borders, spotted with prefab homes and sheds, farming equipment,
<v Speaker 1>broken down vehicles, and herds of fenced in farm animals.
<v Speaker 1>By now there's a group of police officers huddled around
<v Speaker 1>frankie sister her Amber. She's lying face up, her wound
<v Speaker 1>bleeding into the dry ground around her head. Frankie is frantic,
<v Speaker 1>to say the least. Everything happened so fast he hasn't
<v Speaker 1>even had time to call his dad and alert him.
<v Speaker 7>Relax, Relax, I don't know.
<v Speaker 8>You need to back up, sister, You need to back up.
<v Speaker 8>You need to back up, she likes, Okay, I'm.
<v Speaker 9>Gonna go ahead.
<v Speaker 1>If Amber dies, the call to his father will be
<v Speaker 1>much more difficult for Frankie to make. Their mother just
<v Speaker 1>passed away previous year. Frankie can't bear the thought of
<v Speaker 1>telling his dad they've lost another family member.
<v Speaker 2>She still was I'm feeling like she's Where is that at?
<v Speaker 10>I don't think you guys dispatch the residents.
<v Speaker 2>I don't care.
<v Speaker 3>A TV.
<v Speaker 11>Please hurry up and fucking get someone here.
<v Speaker 2>There on the way.
<v Speaker 1>Frankie wasn't the only person who witnessed the shooting. Crouching
<v Speaker 1>next to Amber's lifeless body is fourteen year old Keana Gonzalez.
<v Speaker 1>You can hear her crying. She's been on the phone
<v Speaker 1>with nine to one dispatch, her hands covered in blood,
<v Speaker 1>she's sobbing and at some point she got bit by
<v Speaker 1>a dog. Her medical needs are obviously not the top priority,
<v Speaker 1>but she doesn't care. I remember the girl dying on
<v Speaker 1>the ground is key on his girlfriend? Where did this happen?
<v Speaker 3>Right here?
<v Speaker 12>You don't want to war?
<v Speaker 13>And then I don't know what happened.
<v Speaker 3>We do have them to make the murder for red.
<v Speaker 3>We did pay quest the fire fire so much for.
<v Speaker 14>Anyone's in the area.
<v Speaker 2>Is anything I can do?
<v Speaker 15>Still, she still has a post study and I'm gonna
<v Speaker 15>have to ask you, bro, what you're doing right now
<v Speaker 15>is not helping. I'm gonna need to either go sit
<v Speaker 15>down over here or just give us a second. Okay,
<v Speaker 15>you don't need to be upset. I understand, I understand,
<v Speaker 15>But what you're doing right now is I understand. But
<v Speaker 15>what you're doing right now is not helping.
<v Speaker 2>Okay.
<v Speaker 15>I'm not trying to be an asshole to you. I'm
<v Speaker 15>not trying to be an ashole to I'm trying to
<v Speaker 15>help you. But okay, this is what you're doing right
<v Speaker 15>now is helping. Please just get go over there with that.
<v Speaker 3>I could do much.
<v Speaker 15>Well, here's the here's the thing, dude. The medics are
<v Speaker 15>on the way. All we can all we can try
<v Speaker 15>to do is keep pro live about the medics she is.
<v Speaker 15>She has a pulse you need. It's pretty good. So
<v Speaker 15>can you please just go over there and let us
<v Speaker 15>do our job.
<v Speaker 2>Please. It's okay, it's okay. But I understand your upset.
<v Speaker 2>I totally get it.
<v Speaker 15>Okay, but the cats for the cast inside, guy, we're
<v Speaker 15>gon we're gonna we're gonna need.
<v Speaker 2>You back up. Please please please, guys in here is
<v Speaker 2>not gonna help you.
<v Speaker 15>Leave me.
<v Speaker 2>Let us do our job.
<v Speaker 15>Let us let us do our jobs. Travis knows exactly
<v Speaker 15>what he's doing. Travis knows exactly what I understand. I
<v Speaker 15>understand the closer you are. Yes, so she have a pulse.
<v Speaker 15>She has a pulse right now. Yes, right now, has
<v Speaker 15>a pulse right now. I just need you, I just
<v Speaker 15>need to step back for a second. I understand it's
<v Speaker 15>your sister, and understand you lolever. We're gonna do everything
<v Speaker 15>we possibly can to help her, Okay, I promise you.
<v Speaker 15>I promise you that. Okay, it's okay, it's okay. I
<v Speaker 15>understand your medal. I understand your medical I'd be mad
<v Speaker 15>to buddy, I'm gonna need you to step back because
<v Speaker 15>are working on her. Let let them work. Stop yelling
<v Speaker 15>at him, stop freaking out, just let us do our job.
<v Speaker 2>Okay.
<v Speaker 1>Frankie stomps off, deciding it's time to make that dreaded
<v Speaker 1>phone call to his dad. Meanwhile, EMS still hasn't arrived,
<v Speaker 1>so two of the officers start giving Amber CPR.
<v Speaker 2>So keep your arms creaking as your body light. Don't
<v Speaker 2>win yourself out too fast because I'm remember.
<v Speaker 5>See if you can get everybody's information and just start
<v Speaker 5>taking statements. I mean, I know it's fresh and everything,
<v Speaker 5>but at least identify everybody, please.
<v Speaker 1>Officers begin asking around who owns the house. It isn't
<v Speaker 1>Amber's family's property. Within a few minutes, they confirm it
<v Speaker 1>belongs to thirty nine year old William Brown, an employee
<v Speaker 1>of the Taos County Jail. As far as anyone knows,
<v Speaker 1>William is still at work or on his way home.
<v Speaker 1>He definitely isn't here yet. His son, fourteen year old
<v Speaker 1>poor Furyo Brown, was hanging out with his three friends
<v Speaker 1>at the house when all of this went down. There
<v Speaker 1>were no adults around, but fourteen is an age where
<v Speaker 1>a lot of parents feel comfortable leaving their kids at
<v Speaker 1>home alone. None of that changes what's happening in front
<v Speaker 1>of them. Amber is slipping away and precious time is
<v Speaker 1>running out. Paramedics have still not arrived.
<v Speaker 3>I can.
<v Speaker 16>There's no other oh nothing.
<v Speaker 1>While one deputy does CPR, another gently tilted Samber's head
<v Speaker 1>from side to side, looking for the bullet entry or
<v Speaker 1>exit wounds.
<v Speaker 5>I can't find anything.
<v Speaker 3>All right there in the eye. That's what I'm wondering
<v Speaker 3>about right here.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I just don't.
<v Speaker 16>Want to push.
<v Speaker 9>Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Another ten minutes go by, and they take her pulse again.
<v Speaker 16>There's remember almost here. I don't feel anything anymore. I
<v Speaker 16>guess you got shot on the road.
<v Speaker 2>No, I think so.
<v Speaker 1>Finally they can see an ambulance pulling up.
<v Speaker 5>About ten minutes now.
<v Speaker 3>It happened at Is that what we heard? Yes, so
<v Speaker 3>we're down twenty minutes.
<v Speaker 1>Down twenty minutes. That means it took paramedics about twenty
<v Speaker 1>minutes to get there after the nine one one call,
<v Speaker 1>but no one knows how long she'd already been lying
<v Speaker 1>there before the call. The officers who were working on
<v Speaker 1>saving Amber can now leave the task to the paramedics
<v Speaker 1>while they gather evidence from the roadway, the spot where
<v Speaker 1>the kids said everything happen.
<v Speaker 2>In fact, that bell the gate was closed, makes me
<v Speaker 2>think it was out.
<v Speaker 3>They happened over here.
<v Speaker 2>Somewhere. And if they were shooting to.
<v Speaker 15>Help the driver's side smuggling this way, I think possibly
<v Speaker 15>live of blood right here, I'm mean sure if.
<v Speaker 3>That the boiler of blood it says she wasn't bleeding
<v Speaker 3>into the shots.
<v Speaker 17>There's no way some blood had come on.
<v Speaker 1>Keana is the only one around now. Frankie has run
<v Speaker 1>off to talk to his dad on the phone, Porphyrio
<v Speaker 1>is missing an action, and none of the parents are
<v Speaker 1>on the scene yet. Despite the terrible timing, all of
<v Speaker 1>this is about to change. As deputies walk back to
<v Speaker 1>the spot where Amber's body is now covered with a sheet,
<v Speaker 1>they hear the news go to Coude one.
<v Speaker 3>Okay, so we're gonna shut it, shut.
<v Speaker 12>Down, clear the scene.
<v Speaker 5>Let's get some tape and start taping everything off. Tape
<v Speaker 5>everything off, put the unit in the road. I want
<v Speaker 5>to block off whatever we can.
<v Speaker 1>At the worst possible moment, Frankie and Amber's grandma pulls
<v Speaker 1>up in her red sedan. Their dad is in the
<v Speaker 1>front seat.
<v Speaker 5>Do you have the father walking in now.
<v Speaker 3>Uh, he's got carpenter kneepads on a blue T shirt
<v Speaker 3>and a baseball cap.
<v Speaker 5>Well, I'm trying to block everything off from right here,
<v Speaker 5>so I need you to kind of go.
<v Speaker 3>Back, please, Well.
<v Speaker 5>Just I'm sorry, I'm not hi, sir, I understand, So
<v Speaker 5>can you talk to me for just a couple of minutes.
<v Speaker 5>The ems just pronounced her to see Stone.
<v Speaker 2>My fucking god, man, that's it.
<v Speaker 18>He's gone.
<v Speaker 19>He's gone.
<v Speaker 3>Connect he's referee.
<v Speaker 1>And just like that, the worst thing imaginable is no
<v Speaker 1>longer a possibility. Instead it's reality. It's July twenty eighth,
<v Speaker 1>twenty twenty three. In the rural town of Questa, New Mexico.
<v Speaker 1>Thirteen year old Amber Archiletta has just been pronounced dead
<v Speaker 1>outside of her friend's house. She's been shot in the face.
<v Speaker 1>Three other kids were there when it happened. Or brother Frankie,
<v Speaker 1>her girlfriend Keana, and her friend Porphyrio. They were all
<v Speaker 1>childhood friends, rural neighbors. You could say. They all lived
<v Speaker 1>within walking distance of each other's houses, and hangouts like
<v Speaker 1>today weren't abnormal. The kids tell police they all saw
<v Speaker 1>someone in a black SUV drive up and shoot Amber
<v Speaker 1>while they were all walking together near the road. This
<v Speaker 1>is Porphyrio Brown's house and his dad, William, works for
<v Speaker 1>Taos County Jail. Talking to him is critical. His dogs
<v Speaker 1>are trampling all over the scene and one of them
<v Speaker 1>has already bitten two people. Not only that, but the
<v Speaker 1>layout of the property is set up so that herds
<v Speaker 1>of sheep block access to other fenced areas. Detectives need
<v Speaker 1>access to the whole property, and they need William to
<v Speaker 1>corral the animals. And there he is. Finally, he's standing
<v Speaker 1>at the front of the house, his cell phone placed
<v Speaker 1>to his ear. Porfyrio is standing just a few feet away.
<v Speaker 15>Porfilio, can you get the dog in the house please? Okay,
<v Speaker 15>where can we put the dog in? It won't be
<v Speaker 15>biting people, I understand, dude, but we need this. I
<v Speaker 15>understand that you're upset and everything, but we have to
<v Speaker 15>get the dog off the property. We're gonna have We're
<v Speaker 15>gonna have about fifteen police officers here in about fit
<v Speaker 15>in about five minutes, and if your dog's.
<v Speaker 2>Not off the property's gonna be a problem.
<v Speaker 3>Dude.
<v Speaker 2>Can you please get the dog in that?
<v Speaker 3>All right? Bro?
<v Speaker 15>They're gonna be walking all through this area and they're
<v Speaker 15>gonna be getting bit by your dog over and over
<v Speaker 15>again if you don't get it off the property.
<v Speaker 1>William Brown, like we said earlier, works for the Taws
<v Speaker 1>County Jail, so he's no stranger to higher keys of authority.
<v Speaker 1>But now his property is the subject of an investigation,
<v Speaker 1>and somehow he easily slips into the role of someone
<v Speaker 1>who's that more run ends with the law. Then moments
<v Speaker 1>working alongside them, what happens next isn't going to make
<v Speaker 1>him anymore cooperative.
<v Speaker 4>You just said, come here to me, now, yeah, your son,
<v Speaker 4>well he lost, Yes, he is, by the way.
<v Speaker 20>Just let me talking to him.
<v Speaker 21>They me talking to him, just going hey, come on,
<v Speaker 21>wait guys, guys, just let me talk to him.
<v Speaker 3>We'll let me talk to him.
<v Speaker 2>Will send me. Calm him down, let me help you
<v Speaker 2>get him up.
<v Speaker 3>He doesn't have any policy persecutor. You want to stand up,
<v Speaker 3>I'm gonna driving another shoe, all right.
<v Speaker 2>You gotta calm down.
<v Speaker 5>Calm down, because you were you were swinging, but you
<v Speaker 5>want to go to argument.
<v Speaker 3>If he wasn't even know.
<v Speaker 15>It, he sweah, where are you taking to a unit?
<v Speaker 1>A unit is just a patrol car, to be clear,
<v Speaker 1>But William doesn't care. Seeing his boy in handcuffs is
<v Speaker 1>all he needs to go into full blown Papa Bear mode.
<v Speaker 1>We haven't even seen half of it yet.
<v Speaker 4>For what, that's all Anti's need to take this.
<v Speaker 3>I think it's pretty obviously he's entertaining us.
<v Speaker 2>Well that but what he didn't do.
<v Speaker 16>Nothing he needs.
<v Speaker 3>He's been obtained with us.
<v Speaker 2>That's just that's it.
<v Speaker 3>That's gonna be in the end of it.
<v Speaker 1>Leaving the rook, He's just gonna say.
<v Speaker 4>You guys can't bring him to the house, the unit
<v Speaker 4>to hell.
<v Speaker 3>Because it's a crimson. I can't. I can't met anyone
<v Speaker 3>in it.
<v Speaker 2>So that's the other thing.
<v Speaker 4>How long is this gonna take?
<v Speaker 3>As long as it takes. I can't give you answer, because.
<v Speaker 2>What are you How long is this gonna take?
<v Speaker 1>Because you know we've been taken.
<v Speaker 2>Hold on to you, okay, we don't have another pace
<v Speaker 2>to go for get better.
<v Speaker 3>I mean you appreciate it as a dead girl on
<v Speaker 3>your porch rape?
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, I don't have an option either.
<v Speaker 1>As they walk back towards the house, William starts to
<v Speaker 1>yell at Portfario not to talk to cops. Interesting timing.
<v Speaker 1>He also yells at the officer escorting him, telling him
<v Speaker 1>not to talk to his son. Never mind that he
<v Speaker 1>hasn't been mirandized yet. Big Daddy William Brown is on
<v Speaker 1>the case, acting like Portfarrio's stand in attorney. If the
<v Speaker 1>attorney was saw a goodman, that is, and he started running,
<v Speaker 1>he wasn't in the run.
<v Speaker 3>He started running.
<v Speaker 22>There's't no footing argument on the try and load up
<v Speaker 22>and swing on it.
<v Speaker 12>If that wasn't visiting, nor about really a little kid.
<v Speaker 9>Yeah right kid?
<v Speaker 3>Hey, you he sucks man, and I don't not start
<v Speaker 3>up with him. Stop you stop stop. I'm not well he.
<v Speaker 19>Doesn't.
<v Speaker 1>But what you said, you have a dead girl, and
<v Speaker 1>you need to be like you.
<v Speaker 3>I do. I've been trying to cooperate with a cross.
<v Speaker 2>Well they're taking him.
<v Speaker 1>He said, I could walk with you.
<v Speaker 3>Guys. They need to calm down.
<v Speaker 15>I want to put you.
<v Speaker 2>I wasn't even talking to that.
<v Speaker 3>I just told him to leave so he didn't aggrevate
<v Speaker 3>you anymore.
<v Speaker 5>But you can't keep doing this because then I'll put
<v Speaker 5>you in cuffs, and I don't want to do that.
<v Speaker 3>He's nothing wrong.
<v Speaker 4>Well let's walk over there, because they're still talking to it.
<v Speaker 1>Doesn't enp once they get Portfarrio in the back of
<v Speaker 1>the squad car and away from the adults. The state police,
<v Speaker 1>who have been on the scene for a while, have
<v Speaker 1>to explain everything to William and his girlfriend Ashley, well
<v Speaker 1>as much as they can.
<v Speaker 3>That is, would you be h kid who gives a statement,
<v Speaker 3>I wasn't even going okay, so you just got here
<v Speaker 3>just now? Or did you just get here after? Yeah?
<v Speaker 4>I was at work when he when my son called
<v Speaker 4>me about it happened.
<v Speaker 3>Did you sell, sell you anything anything like that.
<v Speaker 4>He just said that there was a girl that was
<v Speaker 4>shot and he didn't.
<v Speaker 2>Know what to do.
<v Speaker 3>Did he say who shot the girl?
<v Speaker 2>You can't actually, you can't go there. Did he say
<v Speaker 2>who shot the girl? He said a black as TV.
<v Speaker 3>Black AV Yeah, that's all he said.
<v Speaker 4>I well, he referred to it as he said it
<v Speaker 4>was a black a CV, he's all he said.
<v Speaker 3>We told weas I don't know. Was it a Yukon?
<v Speaker 4>I can't remember, because we resorted to as another girl's
<v Speaker 4>car delight us and then that her family drives that car.
<v Speaker 4>But it wasn't that people, It's just the way, because
<v Speaker 4>that's what he told me.
<v Speaker 1>He said.
<v Speaker 3>It was a part of it. Looked like Delilah's And
<v Speaker 3>did it look like Delilah's.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, loose, that's another girl that livesn't tell she has
<v Speaker 4>nothing kind of it, But it's what still. I just
<v Speaker 4>cart her moms.
<v Speaker 23>Awin.
<v Speaker 3>But did she see who shot him or no?
<v Speaker 2>He never said.
<v Speaker 4>He just told me, didn't tell you who it was.
<v Speaker 4>And I he told me that that happened. I was
<v Speaker 4>at work and I just left and then everything else
<v Speaker 4>was done with plus the pedire, So there was nothing
<v Speaker 4>else that he told me other than you know, we
<v Speaker 4>we've been.
<v Speaker 2>Coopering the whole time.
<v Speaker 4>Town now appreciate it because this guy asked us to
<v Speaker 4>take off his pants and stuff, and she put him
<v Speaker 4>in a bag down on the counter for you, and
<v Speaker 4>he was basically watching to the window.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, he's actually insinuating that one of the officers was
<v Speaker 1>creeping through the window enjoying the view of Portfurio, removing
<v Speaker 1>his bloody pants and putting them in an evidence back. Also,
<v Speaker 1>ain't it weird that the guy who keeps asking the
<v Speaker 1>same questions over and over again, just like his son,
<v Speaker 1>by the way, questions which have been answered, mind you,
<v Speaker 1>what's content with his son? Only giving him vague details
<v Speaker 1>about the dead girl on his property.
<v Speaker 19>Weird, right, smister Brown, this is who I am, Major
<v Speaker 19>Faul Crumb and then was New Mexico State Police.
<v Speaker 3>I'm in the case agent for this case. Okay.
<v Speaker 19>I know you said that your son had already spoken
<v Speaker 19>to a lawyer, so then we'll get a hold of
<v Speaker 19>him and see what he wants to do. All I
<v Speaker 19>can tell you is that this is all brand new
<v Speaker 19>to us. We just showed up. I understand your frustrations,
<v Speaker 19>but let us do our jobs. I can promise you.
<v Speaker 19>All I'm here for is.
<v Speaker 3>The truth and what's going to him.
<v Speaker 19>So right, right this second, he's just being detained. I'm
<v Speaker 19>going to get a hold of mister Gower obviously because
<v Speaker 19>of pre preliminary information. Preliminary information that we've received has
<v Speaker 19>given us the right to detain him for right now.
<v Speaker 3>I can't. I can't.
<v Speaker 19>There's a lot of there's a lot of stuff that
<v Speaker 19>I can't tell you. I'll tell you as.
<v Speaker 3>Much as I can.
<v Speaker 19>I'll be as straight up with you as I can,
<v Speaker 19>but there's just information that I don't share, and that
<v Speaker 19>just just to protect the integrity of the investigation. I'm
<v Speaker 19>the case agent. The buck stops with me. Okay, So
<v Speaker 19>if you have any questions, by all means, call me.
<v Speaker 19>But right now, we just have a lot, a lot
<v Speaker 19>of other stuff to do. That's all preliminary, so we
<v Speaker 19>don't have a lot of information either, but the initial
<v Speaker 19>stuff that we do have gives us the right to
<v Speaker 19>detain your son.
<v Speaker 1>William has already noticed something strange. Now his son Portfyrio
<v Speaker 1>seems to be the odd one out in his group
<v Speaker 1>of friends and one of.
<v Speaker 4>The other ones going to be picked up.
<v Speaker 19>As soon as I get as soon as I get
<v Speaker 19>to that point. Bottom line, I can't give you a
<v Speaker 19>time frame. Do you know where they're at?
<v Speaker 2>They had them leave.
<v Speaker 3>I have no idea, Carol, Actually, don't.
<v Speaker 4>Say anything to nobody, So I'm not saying anything to anybody,
<v Speaker 4>the attorneys.
<v Speaker 8>I just want to.
<v Speaker 24>Explain something to them.
<v Speaker 8>Okay, I'm just.
<v Speaker 4>You, but you don't speak until the attorney speaks.
<v Speaker 23>You're going to ask for any questions.
<v Speaker 19>I'm just telling you this is mister Brown. I understand
<v Speaker 19>your frustration, but let us work.
<v Speaker 21>Well.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, I'm not saying and.
<v Speaker 3>I appreciate that, but that's that's where we're at.
<v Speaker 20>Okay.
<v Speaker 1>If this family of Karen's is so insufferable with a
<v Speaker 1>dead girl on their porch. Can you imagine what the
<v Speaker 1>local Walmart supervisor has had to put up with over
<v Speaker 1>the years. Everything happened so fast, just like the shooting.
<v Speaker 1>But before police gave William this vague explanation, they had
<v Speaker 1>already spoken to Frankie and Keana. While the kids waited
<v Speaker 1>to give their official statements, one officer happened to be
<v Speaker 1>standing near a car. The door was open. Keanu was
<v Speaker 1>talking to her mom, and what she said to her
<v Speaker 1>changed everything. This is gonna be a little bit hard
<v Speaker 1>to hear, but we're gonna play it anyway.
<v Speaker 25>I'm sitting in his kitchen.
<v Speaker 14>This one music, I mean fun, and that's when you
<v Speaker 14>start learning what it starts pointing it and the reaction
<v Speaker 14>to Vic has the reaction to her, You're gonna go like,
<v Speaker 14>try to.
<v Speaker 25>Move their heads and ship and she did that and
<v Speaker 25>the rest her I look, I see a little lunch
<v Speaker 25>that TI gay attach and.
<v Speaker 11>Fucking dumb ass operators being so stupid. Of course I'll
<v Speaker 11>be fucking freaking out.
<v Speaker 2>And again, shut the fuck up, shut up, just fucking.
<v Speaker 24>Listen the hardest you can.
<v Speaker 2>I don't know what's about to tell you. And she
<v Speaker 2>tries to tell me, do you have any form of idea?
<v Speaker 26>I'm fucking fourteen.
<v Speaker 24>If I tell you, I'm I was.
<v Speaker 14>Born in two thousand and nine, So fuck does that?
<v Speaker 1>Hello, This dumb bitch's friend just murdered someone, but she's
<v Speaker 1>mad at nine one one instead. Yeah, there's a lot
<v Speaker 1>of that going around anyway. In the beginning of this clip,
<v Speaker 1>if you listen real close, you can hear what she
<v Speaker 1>told her mom. She said, everything was perfectly fine. We
<v Speaker 1>were all sitting in his kitchen listening to music. And
<v Speaker 1>that's when he pulls out the gun and starts pointing it.
<v Speaker 1>Will you look at that? Turns out New Mexico State
<v Speaker 1>Police had a really good reason to detain Porphyrio Brown.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, so go ahead and tell me.
<v Speaker 15>What exactly what happened from from the moment before she
<v Speaker 15>was shot.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, what were you guys doing before she was shot?
<v Speaker 18>She went having a goal time and she just like
<v Speaker 18>went to the backyard and like we're done nice in pace,
<v Speaker 18>go to.
<v Speaker 14>Shit, And we ended up going to the and he
<v Speaker 14>ended up.
<v Speaker 27>Going back into his house and then next thing you know,
<v Speaker 27>he pulls out I think it's a revolver. The one
<v Speaker 27>that has like a spinning barrel.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, he pulls out of it. It was a handgun.
<v Speaker 10>Yeah, he pulls that up.
<v Speaker 15>So just to just to get it straight. You guys
<v Speaker 15>are you guys are in the back of the house, right,
<v Speaker 15>you can hang out playing.
<v Speaker 10>The first we were perfectly fine, just chilling, nothing wrong.
<v Speaker 14>And we ended up going inside.
<v Speaker 27>And then that that's the one he pulls out that
<v Speaker 27>good and I was like, dog, don't even be doing
<v Speaker 27>that because I could be loaded.
<v Speaker 10>He was also, And then he ends up pointing it
<v Speaker 10>at her and she went.
<v Speaker 1>And she went to go like like take.
<v Speaker 10>It away from her face.
<v Speaker 11>Right, all of a sudden, you just hear a boom.
<v Speaker 25>I look and I see her poots in the cross.
<v Speaker 2>So he shot her in the face with the handgun.
<v Speaker 15>Where where were you guys when he shot her with
<v Speaker 15>the handgun?
<v Speaker 9>Oh?
<v Speaker 25>I think the kitchen.
<v Speaker 2>You guys were inside the house when it happened.
<v Speaker 15>Yeah, were they joking around?
<v Speaker 2>Was he mad at her? What was the I don't
<v Speaker 2>know everything.
<v Speaker 10>She was perfectly fine. Everybody was joking, laughing, and he
<v Speaker 10>pulls it out. I don't even know where he got
<v Speaker 10>it from. And then he he he goes he goes like,
<v Speaker 10>cause like how it was because there's a table against
<v Speaker 10>the wall, and like I was standing against the window
<v Speaker 10>and she was next standing right there in the middle,
<v Speaker 10>and he points at her, and so she like went
<v Speaker 10>to go move it, and.
<v Speaker 25>That's when you just hear the loud bang and a
<v Speaker 25>little bit of a light and then.
<v Speaker 11>She drops and next thing you know, she just starts
<v Speaker 11>to glean. But next thing you know, when she does fall,
<v Speaker 11>should we all look? And then that's wants to freak out,
<v Speaker 11>and he's like, let's.
<v Speaker 10>Take her to the bat and Frankie's.
<v Speaker 16>All, we'll call on one.
<v Speaker 27>And I was like panicking. So it took me a
<v Speaker 27>minute to get my phone out of my pocket and
<v Speaker 27>just to dial in general okay, And then finally.
<v Speaker 11>We were able or well he was able to get.
<v Speaker 10>Her out, and then me and Frankie were standing out
<v Speaker 10>there with her, well four point somewhere, I don't know where.
<v Speaker 2>You just go back into the house, yeah, I think so,
<v Speaker 2>I'm not sure.
<v Speaker 1>Guys, guys, guys, before you get outraged, remember it's the
<v Speaker 1>gun's fault. The inanimate object murdered this girl, not the
<v Speaker 1>ignorant brown kid growing up in gangst the culture with
<v Speaker 1>the approval of his ignorant, brown gun owning parents, who
<v Speaker 1>weren't even home at the time. Remember to assign your
<v Speaker 1>blame in a proper woke fashion. Everyone good, Now that
<v Speaker 1>all the idiots have left and stopped listening, let's continue.
<v Speaker 1>While all this was happening, a detective pulls out his
<v Speaker 1>radio and quietly cancels the BOLO alert.
<v Speaker 15>Hey, what's going on?
<v Speaker 6>Can you do me a favorite? Cancel that bolo for
<v Speaker 6>that black of cud.
<v Speaker 9>Yeah, we kind of already did. Okay, perfect, Okay, any
<v Speaker 9>other updates or nothing?
<v Speaker 6>So for right now, three polices on scene. These guys,
<v Speaker 6>you're out here there, crime scene guys, you're out here.
<v Speaker 6>So it looks like she'll probably end up taking this
<v Speaker 6>one over from us.
<v Speaker 9>Huh.
<v Speaker 6>But we do have possible stufffecting custody and we're going
<v Speaker 6>to be turning him over to six weeks. And so yeah,
<v Speaker 6>I don't think we have anybody any other suspects help standy.
<v Speaker 1>It isn't until much later, during a follow up interview
<v Speaker 1>that Keana explains why she didn't tell the truth from
<v Speaker 1>the beginning.
<v Speaker 3>So there was there was a story of a vehicle
<v Speaker 3>driving by.
<v Speaker 18>Oh yeah, he he made that story up whenever he
<v Speaker 18>shot her and took her outside, when.
<v Speaker 3>What did he tell you about that?
<v Speaker 18>He'm trying to make up the story that the drive
<v Speaker 18>by happened like right like next that dumpster in front
<v Speaker 18>of his like on the road chase had drive by
<v Speaker 18>happened right there, and that her brother went to his
<v Speaker 18>house freaking out about it and then up dragging her
<v Speaker 18>over there.
<v Speaker 3>But m but that's not even close.
<v Speaker 19>Okay, So was he telling you guys to say that?
<v Speaker 19>I think he wanted us soon He was just saying
<v Speaker 19>that version.
<v Speaker 18>Yeah, I think he was.
<v Speaker 3>Okay, do you know who he was on the phone?
<v Speaker 18>Left?
<v Speaker 3>By chance?
<v Speaker 18>It might have been one of his parents.
<v Speaker 19>I'm not sure though, So so he made sure that
<v Speaker 19>you heard him talking on the phone when he when.
<v Speaker 18>He gave that yeah, because he walked around me and
<v Speaker 18>her when I was still next to her on the floor,
<v Speaker 18>and he ended up saying, like I heard him on
<v Speaker 18>the phone, was it was a drive by? All of
<v Speaker 18>a sudden some car passed by and the shot her.
<v Speaker 3>Did he ever ask you to move for him?
<v Speaker 18>He did ask us to help him pick her up
<v Speaker 18>when no one else helped.
<v Speaker 3>Because that's that's fupped up and where what did he
<v Speaker 3>want to do?
<v Speaker 18>I don't know if he wanted to take her side
<v Speaker 18>and like hide the whole fact that he shuddered.
<v Speaker 3>Well, I mean, if it's talking about it, drive back,
<v Speaker 3>that makes.
<v Speaker 18>Sense because later on, like he didn't like when he
<v Speaker 18>was on the phone with his daddy, even told him
<v Speaker 18>that he didn't shoot her.
<v Speaker 1>Assigning blame to a random third party. Weird, that's not
<v Speaker 1>at all what criminals do. I guess that would be
<v Speaker 1>a good time to play the beginning of that nine
<v Speaker 1>to one one call for you.
<v Speaker 9>What's the location of your emergency?
<v Speaker 1>What the game?
<v Speaker 4>Hello?
<v Speaker 9>Oh, my shot, give me the acca, give me the address.
<v Speaker 7>But what's that?
<v Speaker 9>Why they're yelling and I can't understand then what happened?
<v Speaker 19>My god, my god?
<v Speaker 9>Shot your girlfriend?
<v Speaker 5>Yes?
<v Speaker 9>Where does she get shot?
<v Speaker 2>Okay?
<v Speaker 9>Okay, what's your what's your name?
<v Speaker 28>My name is?
<v Speaker 9>Okay?
<v Speaker 12>Remember?
<v Speaker 23>Is she alert?
<v Speaker 9>Is your girlfriend alert?
<v Speaker 5>Oh?
<v Speaker 23>She's looking on gorgeous right now?
<v Speaker 1>Worry?
<v Speaker 9>Okay, we're gonna get somebody out there right now. Stand
<v Speaker 9>the line with me. Don't don't hang up. We're getting
<v Speaker 9>somebody out there, but don't hang up on me. Okay,
<v Speaker 9>come on, just keep her comfortable. Okay, Oh, I.
<v Speaker 26>Think I don't know if she.
<v Speaker 9>Sir? Yeah, is she still unconscious? Sir? Is the person
<v Speaker 9>that shot her still there?
<v Speaker 4>Yeah?
<v Speaker 15>Wait, no, they drove by.
<v Speaker 9>It was a dry by you. No.
<v Speaker 4>I wasn't even really around, l I was opening the bill.
<v Speaker 9>Okay, do you have an idea of what kind of vehicle? Baby? So?
<v Speaker 22>Okay, I'm not sure.
<v Speaker 3>I'm not sure.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, let me ask you something, And I want you
<v Speaker 1>to rub those two brain cells together real hard and
<v Speaker 1>see if you can come up with an answer. If
<v Speaker 1>you had just watched someone murder someone else, would your
<v Speaker 1>first instinct be to cover for them? If so, kindly,
<v Speaker 1>fuck off and unsubscribed. Now, now let's hear what Frankie
<v Speaker 1>says when he's confronted with these inconsistencies.
<v Speaker 3>But what time to tell you guys about the taking
<v Speaker 3>order of the road.
<v Speaker 18>That's when Hue like, that's when she was actually outside outside.
<v Speaker 19>That's when she was already outside. Yeah, and you guys
<v Speaker 19>had had called nine one one.
<v Speaker 4>Yet, I think we'll like right when he like kind
<v Speaker 4>of like drugged her out to like the final squat,
<v Speaker 4>he kept saying he said that, and I was like no,
<v Speaker 4>And then I called in.
<v Speaker 19>Okay, bit, but you and Keana and poor fall three
<v Speaker 19>talked about a vehicle driving by, about Amber being shot
<v Speaker 19>from a vehicle that drove by.
<v Speaker 18>I don't I don't know about DJ, but I don't
<v Speaker 18>remember in me singing a vehicle.
<v Speaker 3>I hope, yeah he did. I know he did. So
<v Speaker 3>what what did you hear?
<v Speaker 18>Like?
<v Speaker 3>Could he tell you that story?
<v Speaker 4>He kept I kept hearing him saying, like, help me,
<v Speaker 4>help me, because that he was going to like his
<v Speaker 4>dad was going to like.
<v Speaker 3>And he was on the phone when he was saying
<v Speaker 3>help me, or who is he talking to to, like
<v Speaker 3>trying to tell us to like help him? Okay, all right?
<v Speaker 3>And what did porf do with the gun? That's one thing.
<v Speaker 3>I don't know what he did after the fact. Do
<v Speaker 3>you know what Russian roulette is?
<v Speaker 2>Okay?
<v Speaker 3>Was he playing that that? You're positive?
<v Speaker 1>Kid's gonna be pretty stupid. As evidenced by this detective's
<v Speaker 1>question about Russian rouly let, if a false story about
<v Speaker 1>a drive by came from Porphyria, it might team strange
<v Speaker 1>that Frankie and Keana went along with it, But these
<v Speaker 1>four kids were close. Frankie and Porphyrio were best friends,
<v Speaker 1>His best friend had just shot his sister, and in
<v Speaker 1>that moment, Frankie wasn't thinking about justice. He was thinking
<v Speaker 1>about damage control. He didn't know exactly what had happened,
<v Speaker 1>but he knew one thing for sure. It had to
<v Speaker 1>be an accident, didn't it. The story Frankie, Keana and
<v Speaker 1>Porfyrio gave to the police has completely fallen apart. The
<v Speaker 1>black SUV simply didn't exist, and the real shooter is
<v Speaker 1>now sitting in the back of a patrol car. Portfyrio
<v Speaker 1>Brown is fourteen years old, and he had access to
<v Speaker 1>at least one gun. For some reason, he pointed it
<v Speaker 1>at a thirteen year old named Amber Archiuletta in the
<v Speaker 1>face and pulled the trigger.
<v Speaker 14>When we started. And they're fourteen years old at that,
<v Speaker 14>all of them.
<v Speaker 3>No, they are all classmates.
<v Speaker 12>All of them are helping them.
<v Speaker 22>That was my job's girlfriends that happened.
<v Speaker 1>That these were classmates. They lived in the same neighborhood,
<v Speaker 1>they were childhood friends. Porforio's father worked for the Taos
<v Speaker 1>County Jail in the past. He was even a guide
<v Speaker 1>for the hunter's safety course. The family have known gun
<v Speaker 1>safety like the back of their hand. Should have been
<v Speaker 1>second nature to them because in many ways it was
<v Speaker 1>their job.
<v Speaker 3>So when he pointed it at her about how far
<v Speaker 3>away it was about probably about like this. So did
<v Speaker 3>she approach him to get a hope of the gun?
<v Speaker 18>Well, she was like this, and I don't know if
<v Speaker 18>they went closer to what then like they started struggling
<v Speaker 18>like this, and then like in.
<v Speaker 3>Time they start yes, And what was he doing with
<v Speaker 3>the other guns? He said, I'm not sure if.
<v Speaker 18>He was just pulling them out to show him off,
<v Speaker 18>to see if he was cool or what.
<v Speaker 8>But he just pulled him out and he didn't do
<v Speaker 8>nothing with him.
<v Speaker 18>So then he ended up doing I think you put
<v Speaker 18>him on the counter or something. I don't even know.
<v Speaker 2>I thought, like jendly, he was.
<v Speaker 20>Really chill guy.
<v Speaker 18>Like we always used to hang out.
<v Speaker 14>I'm sure chill have a good time.
<v Speaker 18>He was like always the homie. Yeah, never really thought
<v Speaker 18>anything bad about him, thought you'd do anything. But like
<v Speaker 18>I always knew, like he always like to like be
<v Speaker 18>people up, but they like disrespect him or whatever.
<v Speaker 3>But I didn't he like to fight, Yeah, but I didn't.
<v Speaker 3>I grew up and asked me, that's not that big
<v Speaker 3>of a deal.
<v Speaker 18>But I didn't think he'd ever like pull a gun
<v Speaker 18>out and someone.
<v Speaker 3>Like actually shoot them, And he never and he was
<v Speaker 3>never mad about anything.
<v Speaker 18>Everyone was laughing, having a good.
<v Speaker 3>Time, but he was just having a good time. Do
<v Speaker 3>you feel like he meant to do this?
<v Speaker 18>I don't know, because I could think about it. He
<v Speaker 18>didn't see him mad or anything. But then why would
<v Speaker 18>he have his finger on the trigger.
<v Speaker 3>Or just do that?
<v Speaker 16>So I don't even know.
<v Speaker 3>Did he ever? Do you ever know of him to
<v Speaker 3>pull guns out on somebody else, on other people?
<v Speaker 18>I've heard about it, but I wasn't sure if he's true.
<v Speaker 3>You've heard about it, but you've never seen it.
<v Speaker 20>Yeah, was he?
<v Speaker 3>Is he known to carry a gun?
<v Speaker 18>I'm not sure about like all the time, but sometimes yeah.
<v Speaker 3>Sometimes like what kind of gun?
<v Speaker 18>Well, even before whenever, like everything happened when works on
<v Speaker 18>the car, he pulls out like media block. I don't
<v Speaker 18>know what it was like minihandgun black and then he
<v Speaker 18>also had I think a rifle in the car.
<v Speaker 3>But and do you know does he hunt stuff like that?
<v Speaker 18>I think he does?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, he does. He talk about that a lot.
<v Speaker 8>Yeah, sometimes has.
<v Speaker 19>He ever talked about hurting anybody else? Shooting anybody else?
<v Speaker 18>I mean when you used to talk about beating people's boot,
<v Speaker 18>asked before, but other and then not like gun violence?
<v Speaker 1>What fourteen year old needs to be carrying around a pistol?
<v Speaker 1>And why didn't anyone teach them the rule that every
<v Speaker 1>gun owner knows, and never point a gun at a
<v Speaker 1>target that you don't intend to shoot, you know.
<v Speaker 21>And I'm really upset because he's a you know, I
<v Speaker 21>know him, you know, I know him and the wife
<v Speaker 21>and everything, and you know, I never knew that he
<v Speaker 21>was a guy, but you would think he would have
<v Speaker 21>known him better, being a guide in the huntry.
<v Speaker 3>States and stuff.
<v Speaker 19>Got several guns in that house. I'm sure you've seen
<v Speaker 19>a lot of guns in that line.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, they're just a patriotic, gun loving family.
<v Speaker 9>Right.
<v Speaker 1>But after the shot was fired and Amber collapsed, Porphyrio
<v Speaker 1>didn't run for help, He didn't call nine one one.
<v Speaker 1>He started cleaning up and staging the scene, and he
<v Speaker 1>just had her by her arms and no.
<v Speaker 18>One was helping him, and he just started dragging her.
<v Speaker 3>What do you mean he wanted you guys to help?
<v Speaker 3>Did he say something?
<v Speaker 18>Whenever he first grabbed her under your arms, he was all,
<v Speaker 18>help me, help me. We just looked at him, you
<v Speaker 18>guess maybe still in shock or something, because no one
<v Speaker 18>helped him.
<v Speaker 3>And then so he takes her to the porch or
<v Speaker 3>did he take her all the way to where she was?
<v Speaker 18>He took her, he stopped her at the porch. That's
<v Speaker 18>whether there's some blood there, right, and then he drop
<v Speaker 18>her off with it.
<v Speaker 19>And he got on the phone right away. And I
<v Speaker 19>know this is tough, but do you remember brought a
<v Speaker 19>lot of blood being in the house. You said he
<v Speaker 19>cleaned up.
<v Speaker 18>I'm not sure how much, but it's probably a decent line.
<v Speaker 18>And you could tell that he cleaned because there was
<v Speaker 18>a mob bucket and there wasn't like there was like
<v Speaker 18>a little streak of blood next to the mob bucket.
<v Speaker 2>But I could tell he.
<v Speaker 14>Tried to hide some.
<v Speaker 18>But one thing is whenever I did end up going
<v Speaker 18>back to talk, whenever they moved me from the cop car,
<v Speaker 18>it did seem like he changed his clothes.
<v Speaker 19>Okay, So a second ago, you said you didn't know
<v Speaker 19>if he hit or did something with the guns.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, like multiple guys. Yeah, So what do you mean
<v Speaker 3>by multiple guys?
<v Speaker 18>Because even at first, before everything happened, he even pulled
<v Speaker 18>out like an ak and it seemed like an ak
<v Speaker 18>it looked like it, and then some sort of other gun.
<v Speaker 18>I don't know my guns, but it was like about
<v Speaker 18>I would say, maybe about this, maybe a little bit bigger.
<v Speaker 18>It was camouflage and they were full rounds. Like the
<v Speaker 18>clip was fool but I don't know if there was
<v Speaker 18>one in the chamber. He ended up putting those ways
<v Speaker 18>and then that's when he pulls out the revolver.
<v Speaker 3>Did he threaten you guys at all? Were you scared
<v Speaker 3>of him in that point?
<v Speaker 18>In a moment, I didn't know what could happened, like
<v Speaker 18>he probably could have if he really.
<v Speaker 1>Wanted to they That's the question, isn't it. Did he
<v Speaker 1>really want to hurt Amber or was he just a
<v Speaker 1>dumb kid trying to look cool in front of his friends.
<v Speaker 1>Here's Frankie again.
<v Speaker 3>Do you know por carry a gun?
<v Speaker 18>Uh?
<v Speaker 3>Sometimes, I mean besides a rifle. Uh once in a while.
<v Speaker 21>You know, it's coming out a lot that he's actually
<v Speaker 21>been pointing that gun.
<v Speaker 6>In a lot of.
<v Speaker 17>I'm curious about that as well. And you know, some
<v Speaker 17>other people said that only the kids knew. But last
<v Speaker 17>weekend at the farmer's market there, you know, there's a
<v Speaker 17>little program for the kids to live there, and I
<v Speaker 17>guess it.
<v Speaker 21>Only went around the kids. But he had the gun
<v Speaker 21>in his being the whole time here at the farmer's market.
<v Speaker 21>But nobody knew except have you.
<v Speaker 3>Seen him point a gun at somebody else?
<v Speaker 29>Oh?
<v Speaker 3>Are you sure? And be honest with you did I'm okay.
<v Speaker 1>This is all starting to paint a clear picture. None
<v Speaker 1>of the adults knew it at the time, but Portfarrio
<v Speaker 1>had apparently brought a gun to work at the local
<v Speaker 1>farmers market. He'd been known to show off his guns,
<v Speaker 1>pull them out, and even point them at other kids.
<v Speaker 1>And now a girl was dead. The escalation couldn't have
<v Speaker 1>been more obvious to anyone that was paying attention, that is.
<v Speaker 19>But as far as evidence, I feel very strong for
<v Speaker 19>our case. I can't tell you exactly what he'll be charged.
<v Speaker 19>I mean, I can tell you exactly what he's been charged.
<v Speaker 19>Ye's it's called an open counter murderer. That is a
<v Speaker 19>you know, that's kind of an all income of saying charge.
<v Speaker 1>Now Porfarrio has to face the full weight of the law.
<v Speaker 1>Dad might see him as just a kid, but when
<v Speaker 1>you kill someone, the law doesn't always agree. Oh and
<v Speaker 1>the dead girl and the dead girl's family don't care
<v Speaker 1>how old he is. The word of the day on
<v Speaker 1>Swordain scale here is irrelevant. Say it with me eh
<v Speaker 1>re levant. William Brown was focused on his son's legal battle.
<v Speaker 1>What he didn't know was that he was about to
<v Speaker 1>become the first person charged under the new state statute.
<v Speaker 1>By the end of the day, both father and son
<v Speaker 1>would be in handcuffs. The law is called Benny's Law,
<v Speaker 1>and it took effect in June of twenty twenty three,
<v Speaker 1>less than a month before Amber's murder.
<v Speaker 12>It's been nearly two years since tragedy hit Washington Middle
<v Speaker 12>School in Albuquerque and just rippled throughout our community. Which
<v Speaker 12>should have been a harmless schoolyard argument turned deadly when
<v Speaker 12>thirteen year old Benny Hargrove was shot and killed by
<v Speaker 12>a classmate. To say Benny was just standing up to
<v Speaker 12>a bully, and police say that team was able to
<v Speaker 12>bring the gun to school because it wasn't stored properly
<v Speaker 12>at home.
<v Speaker 24>This year's state lawmakers passed the Benny Hargrove Bill in
<v Speaker 24>an effort to prevent another similar tragedy, and today that
<v Speaker 24>new law officially is going into effect.
<v Speaker 26>Democratic Representative Pamela Herndon spearheaded this bill as one of
<v Speaker 26>the sponsors.
<v Speaker 20>What we are expecting as a result of Benny Hardgrove
<v Speaker 20>Bill going into place is that parents are adults who
<v Speaker 20>have responsibility for firearms, will absolutely restore those, will store
<v Speaker 20>them safely so that children miners do not have access
<v Speaker 20>to them at all.
<v Speaker 26>House Bill nine acts as a gun safety bill. If
<v Speaker 26>a kid gets a hold of their parent or guardian's
<v Speaker 26>gun and commits a crime, that caretaker can be charged
<v Speaker 26>with a misdemeanor.
<v Speaker 20>The purpose was not necessarily to punish adults, but the
<v Speaker 20>purpose was to make sure that they are thinking about
<v Speaker 20>what they're doing.
<v Speaker 1>Gun fanatics, and by gun fanatics, I mean those nutty
<v Speaker 1>democrats that want to take away everyone's constitutional right to
<v Speaker 1>self defense will never admit that conservative gun right activists
<v Speaker 1>are more critical on gun safety than anyone else. If
<v Speaker 1>you have a kid, especially a teenage boy, and you're
<v Speaker 1>not locking up your guns properly, then you deserve everything
<v Speaker 1>that's coming to you. Unless William had his eyes glued
<v Speaker 1>to the news, he probably had no idea that unsecured
<v Speaker 1>firearms could now land him in jail. You see, he
<v Speaker 1>wasn't paying attention. But whether he knew it or not,
<v Speaker 1>William Brown had just become a test case. And the
<v Speaker 1>thing is the guns were all over his house, big
<v Speaker 1>mucho Gundy, and that one.
<v Speaker 3>There's probably like seven or eight, and that one two
<v Speaker 3>hires me to send or good.
<v Speaker 2>We're good with this, all right?
<v Speaker 3>So I have here a return of inventory. All have
<v Speaker 3>you signed?
<v Speaker 2>We have secured a bunch of firearms.
<v Speaker 19>Okay, we didn't take any firearms, but we secured a
<v Speaker 19>bunch of firearms because there was a blunch just laying around.
<v Speaker 3>And with that new law in place, they can't just
<v Speaker 3>be like I guess, unsecured.
<v Speaker 1>Loaded, unlocked and accessible. As you just heard, there weren't
<v Speaker 1>just one or two guns is lying around. Deputies found
<v Speaker 1>at least seven firearms in a single bedroom. When they
<v Speaker 1>locate William Brown to explain the situation, he stands stiff,
<v Speaker 1>his arms crossed, wearing the blank defiance there of a
<v Speaker 1>toddler who knows they're in trouble but doesn't think it's fair.
<v Speaker 3>So here's the thing.
<v Speaker 19>I need you to understand that we're just we're doing
<v Speaker 19>our jobs. We're going to do our jobs best for
<v Speaker 19>our billy. I've got information about what all took place.
<v Speaker 19>And as far as a black suv, it's not that's
<v Speaker 19>that's not kind of have Okay does that make sense
<v Speaker 19>if you're saying I don't, I can't tell you that
<v Speaker 19>was that one?
<v Speaker 3>Okay? And I get that.
<v Speaker 19>But another thing that you need to understand is there's
<v Speaker 19>a lot of guns in that house, right and none
<v Speaker 19>of them are secured.
<v Speaker 3>I have a few that are out. You have a
<v Speaker 3>few that are out. Okay. With that? With that right there,
<v Speaker 3>you put your on your back.
<v Speaker 2>I don't think.
<v Speaker 14>Point one is it maybe didn't making the farmum accessible
<v Speaker 14>to a minor.
<v Speaker 2>Uh there's something gay ball hamor dead.
<v Speaker 3>So this is no degree.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, so there it was min that's that we have
<v Speaker 2>enough polls suit to uh actually a real under that
<v Speaker 2>stuff that it was?
<v Speaker 30>It was it was only guns.
<v Speaker 1>The bottom line is that it was normal for the
<v Speaker 1>Brown family to give their kids unfettered and unsupervised access
<v Speaker 1>to deadly weapons. It was your firearm. That line hits hard.
<v Speaker 1>But was William thinking about the girl his son killed
<v Speaker 1>or was he already thinking about how to protect himself
<v Speaker 1>and his son porphyria before the ink could dry on
<v Speaker 1>his charging documents, William started spinning his own version of
<v Speaker 1>events when where he was the victim, not the dead
<v Speaker 1>girl him. Within minutes of his arrest, the whole group
<v Speaker 1>was on speakerphone with his employer at the Taos County jail.
<v Speaker 22>Hey, I don't know what you call Danny and see
<v Speaker 22>either arresting me because there was a shooting at my
<v Speaker 22>house and they're saying, maybe, yeah, for negligent of a
<v Speaker 22>the load of firearm unsecured. Oh, I don't know the
<v Speaker 22>state police, I mean coffs already so that he's holding
<v Speaker 22>the phone now and I'm just calling you to They said,
<v Speaker 22>maybe if I see a judge, So if you can
<v Speaker 22>call the judges, maybe I can get out tonight.
<v Speaker 3>Okay. So it's like he like.
<v Speaker 19>He explained that he had a weapon that was not secure,
<v Speaker 19>his son had access to that weapon, and a fourteen
<v Speaker 19>year old girl was shot and killed.
<v Speaker 3>Yea.
<v Speaker 1>The while he waited for his first court appearance, something
<v Speaker 1>must have gotten lost in communication because Tass County had
<v Speaker 1>placed him on leave, but he showed up to work anyway.
<v Speaker 1>During the time he was there, he had a lot
<v Speaker 1>to say about his case.
<v Speaker 30>We were still getting a letter. I was trying to
<v Speaker 30>find a way to put him on administratively without pay,
<v Speaker 30>and I don't want him to say out there, we're
<v Speaker 30>doing in our own internal investigation for policy violations, procuring
<v Speaker 30>Universal to do the investigation. I don't know who's been
<v Speaker 30>assigned yet, but we're gonna look at our own policy
<v Speaker 30>right violations, and I'm gonna outside of what you guys
<v Speaker 30>are doing. And then the other thing that just struck me,
<v Speaker 30>and so I just told Jason is we may have
<v Speaker 30>you may have to interview the shift this morning because
<v Speaker 30>I don't know what was relayed to the other folks
<v Speaker 30>in duty because of the miscommunication he had study. He
<v Speaker 30>showed up to work this morning and then they pulled
<v Speaker 30>him aside and had him.
<v Speaker 25>Sit in the office.
<v Speaker 30>When Jason handed him the letter that he was on
<v Speaker 30>paid administrative leave is when he mentioned, anyways, I'm gonna
<v Speaker 30>be I'm gonna be back to work next week because
<v Speaker 30>there's no gun. They're gonna drop all the charges and
<v Speaker 30>I'll be back to work. And then when HR conveyed
<v Speaker 30>to him, hey, this isn't a bount your case, this
<v Speaker 30>is about policy infractions, he was like, oh, and but yeah,
<v Speaker 30>I was thinking about it now. He disclosed the NRA's
<v Speaker 30>going to pay for his legal defense, and he's not
<v Speaker 30>worried about it. And I thought to me, you need
<v Speaker 30>a bunch of cards close And it's just these little things.
<v Speaker 30>I know they're not linkedy conversations, but it's just I
<v Speaker 30>just thought it's interesting, just interesting.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, Okay.
<v Speaker 1>William didn't seem to be worried at all. He was convinced,
<v Speaker 1>for some reason, that they'd never find the gun, that
<v Speaker 1>the NRA would put the bill for his defense, and
<v Speaker 1>that he'd be free of this whole inconvenient ordeal sooner
<v Speaker 1>rather than later. William Brown would be the first person
<v Speaker 1>in New Mexico tried under Benny's law. This added a
<v Speaker 1>political layer to the case. Even so, he was sure
<v Speaker 1>he'd walk.
<v Speaker 3>That it's not about a firearm. It's not about any firearm.
<v Speaker 3>It's about the.
<v Speaker 19>Firearm used in the killing of Miss Amberatch Schiletta.
<v Speaker 23>Brown testified in his own defense today, claiming none of
<v Speaker 23>his guns were missing after the deadly shooting. Prosecutors tried
<v Speaker 23>to poke holes in Brown's testimony by showing him a
<v Speaker 23>picture of a gun that was in his home that
<v Speaker 23>he didn't testify about. They reiterated investigators found unsecured guns
<v Speaker 23>around his home.
<v Speaker 29>What do we know, Well, we do know that we
<v Speaker 29>had a house. It was the Brown Residence, owned by
<v Speaker 29>the Browns, and that the guns in there belonged to
<v Speaker 29>mister Brown. So we've got photos of the house and
<v Speaker 29>of the weapons and how they were secured.
<v Speaker 23>Jurors took just two hours to deliberate the first of
<v Speaker 23>its kind case.
<v Speaker 13>We the jury find the defendant, William Brown, not guilty
<v Speaker 13>of negatine making a fire accessible to a minor, has
<v Speaker 13>charged in count one of the gun jury indictment or
<v Speaker 13>criminal information.
<v Speaker 1>William walked out of the court a free man. A
<v Speaker 1>real travesty of justice if you ask me, But sometimes
<v Speaker 1>Jerry's are full of idiots. So it was earth so
<v Speaker 1>it tracks. Had he been found guilty, he would have
<v Speaker 1>been facing up to eighteen months in prison, which still
<v Speaker 1>seems to me a bit of a walk in the
<v Speaker 1>park for something so serious. For Amber Archiletta's family, it
<v Speaker 1>felt like a second blow. The man who owned the gun,
<v Speaker 1>who should have known better than to leave it available
<v Speaker 1>for his teenager to use to flash around and brag about,
<v Speaker 1>had walked away a free man. But William wasn't the
<v Speaker 1>only one. They wanted held accountable. William's son. Porfirio, the
<v Speaker 1>boy who pulled the trigger, was still facing murder charges.
<v Speaker 18>But I know that.
<v Speaker 19>Die's office is going to try and have him charged
<v Speaker 19>as an adult. I would mope that that's like, there's
<v Speaker 19>no guarantee. I understand that what I would choose.
<v Speaker 17>Charges just for the fact that he absolutely he tried
<v Speaker 17>covering it up, and he drugged around and threw off
<v Speaker 17>that porch like the donk.
<v Speaker 3>Absolutely, so I definitely want him to be punished to
<v Speaker 3>the police, and I'm doing everything I can.
<v Speaker 21>At first, I was on the fins about it because
<v Speaker 21>they were branded, you know that she was there because suggested.
<v Speaker 21>But after him, what I seen her, you know, in
<v Speaker 21>the condition I want him is to you know, to
<v Speaker 21>the fullist extent.
<v Speaker 1>Porfarrio's first trial began in February of twenty twenty four,
<v Speaker 1>just a few months before his father's not guilty verdict.
<v Speaker 1>Porfarrio was fifteen by this point and was charged as
<v Speaker 1>a youthful offender. It sounds counterintuitive, but this meant that
<v Speaker 1>he could be tried and sentenced as an adult. At trial,
<v Speaker 1>he faced charges of second degree murder, tampering with evidence,
<v Speaker 1>attempted assault of a peace officer Porphyrio Brown.
<v Speaker 24>He went on trial for second degree murder last week,
<v Speaker 24>but jurors couldn't make a unanimous decision.
<v Speaker 31>I think there was a lot of emotion from myself
<v Speaker 31>my client. It's just you put in so much effort
<v Speaker 31>for these trials. You really believe in your defense. When
<v Speaker 31>a jerry can't come to a conclusion can feel a
<v Speaker 31>little invalidating.
<v Speaker 24>Almost, Bunker says. The jury had questions about several pieces
<v Speaker 24>of evidence. First, the initial nine to one one call.
<v Speaker 31>If the story has been that my kid wanted to
<v Speaker 31>create this drive by story, but if you listen to
<v Speaker 31>the evidence on the nine to one one call, it's
<v Speaker 31>actually the brother who first tells nine to one one
<v Speaker 31>that his sister was shot in a drive by.
<v Speaker 1>We'll let you decide the likelihood of Frankie coming up
<v Speaker 1>with a story on his own versus the story coming
<v Speaker 1>from Porphyria, who didn't even think to call nine one
<v Speaker 1>one and was instead busy cleaning up what he had done.
<v Speaker 24>Bunker says. Jurors also asked about a hug between the
<v Speaker 24>brother and Brown on.
<v Speaker 31>Body camera while the girl is laying there dying. The
<v Speaker 31>brother actually comes up to my client and gives my
<v Speaker 31>client a huge hug, and so to me, that was
<v Speaker 31>very inconsistent, because why are you hugging my client if
<v Speaker 31>you just shot your sister.
<v Speaker 24>Blood on the brother's arms also came into question.
<v Speaker 31>He has perfect circular spots of blood on his arm,
<v Speaker 31>He's got blood on the back of his elbow, he
<v Speaker 31>has a watch on, and then.
<v Speaker 20>He goes home.
<v Speaker 31>So he and the other juvenile witness they leave the
<v Speaker 31>scene and they're together at another location for over an hour.
<v Speaker 24>Eight jurors found Brown not guilty. Four thought he was guilty,
<v Speaker 24>but Bunker says they all agreed on one thing.
<v Speaker 31>Even the four that thought he was guilty said that
<v Speaker 31>they thought this was an accident, and so what they're
<v Speaker 31>trying to charge him with is intentional murder. And all
<v Speaker 31>the jurors unanimously agreed. But whoever the shooter was, this
<v Speaker 31>was an accident.
<v Speaker 24>District Attorney Marcus Montoya says it's likely his office will
<v Speaker 24>retry the case.
<v Speaker 18>Guns and gun.
<v Speaker 29>Violence and going to control are very serious issues, and
<v Speaker 29>this was unnecessary and very traumatic loss of a young life.
<v Speaker 20>We can ever see that often.
<v Speaker 6>And upper loud enough.
<v Speaker 24>Montoya might also have a personnel issue to address connected
<v Speaker 24>to the case. Bunker says, the lead prosecutor wasn't there
<v Speaker 24>for closing arguments.
<v Speaker 31>We were told she went to the hospital at the
<v Speaker 31>judge indicated he may have smelled alcohol on her breath.
<v Speaker 31>So I'm entirely sure what happened there.
<v Speaker 12>There may be rumors about.
<v Speaker 29>That, nothing certainly that I can verify, And even if
<v Speaker 29>you know, we conducted an investigation to find that anything
<v Speaker 29>like that was a potentiality.
<v Speaker 3>That would be an internal and personal issue for me.
<v Speaker 2>To deal with.
<v Speaker 1>Bunker, what an unfortunate name. Then again, who am I
<v Speaker 1>to judge? Bide anyway? Rather than face a second trial,
<v Speaker 1>Porfario accepted a plea deal in August of twenty twenty four.
<v Speaker 1>He pleaded guilty to one single count of tampering with evidence.
<v Speaker 1>In exchange for accepting the deal, the remaining charges, including
<v Speaker 1>second degree murder, were dropped. He was expected to serve
<v Speaker 1>a year of probation, and by the time this episode airs,
<v Speaker 1>his punishment will be over, his victim will still be dead.
<v Speaker 3>In the end, the.
<v Speaker 1>Courtroom decisions can't change what happened. Amber Archiletta is gone forever.
<v Speaker 28>She was outgoing. She had no fear. If there was
<v Speaker 28>a hill, she'd climate. You know, her and her brother,
<v Speaker 28>you know, riding their bike. She was the one popping
<v Speaker 28>the hilies and ramping and stuff like that. I just
<v Speaker 28>want him to remember her for the sweet little thing
<v Speaker 28>that she was. You know, Like I say, she touched
<v Speaker 28>a lot of people, and I just want them to
<v Speaker 28>have those good memories of them.
<v Speaker 1>Amber took her last breaths in the dry New Mexico
<v Speaker 1>dirt that afternoon. She was only thirteen years old, full
<v Speaker 1>of creativity, making her way through adolescence, and surrounded by
<v Speaker 1>kids who were supposed to be her friends. This story
<v Speaker 1>isn't about a teenager making a horrible mistake. It's about
<v Speaker 1>the environment that allowed it to happen. Adults who never
<v Speaker 1>want to take accountability and leave weapons out within reach,
<v Speaker 1>laws that arrive too late, and the culture that trusts
<v Speaker 1>children around firearms more than the car keys or voting ballots. Oh,
<v Speaker 1>and also really fucking dumb jurys, because who the hell
<v Speaker 1>wants to get out of work to go do that shit,
<v Speaker 1>especially if you have a good job and like it.
<v Speaker 1>Imagine that.
<v Speaker 19>Well, we're all taught in rural areas like this gun safety,
<v Speaker 19>yet we all know gun safety, yeah, and that's part
<v Speaker 19>of our you know, that's how we brought h.
<v Speaker 3>I grew up in Espanola and Himita, and it was
<v Speaker 3>no different.
<v Speaker 16>You know.
<v Speaker 3>I knew how to handle a gun from an early.
<v Speaker 19>Age, and I knew that you don't point a gun
<v Speaker 19>at something that you're not willing to shoot exactly.
<v Speaker 1>But knowing the rules doesn't mean everyone follows them. You see,
<v Speaker 1>being an adult, not to mention, being a parent, requires
<v Speaker 1>that you get off your ass and actually do things
<v Speaker 1>that are inconvenient from time to time, like, oh, I
<v Speaker 1>don't know, getting a gun safe, actually using it, and
<v Speaker 1>actually teaching your dumb kids about gun safety and about
<v Speaker 1>what not to do with a deadly weapon. But who
<v Speaker 1>has the time when you're busy yelling at the Walmart
<v Speaker 1>manager and asking repeatedly why the Roota Bakus aren't on sale?
<v Speaker 1>They were last week, so why aren't they this week?
<v Speaker 1>Are you starting to see how that works?
<v Speaker 28>Well?
<v Speaker 1>That does it? For another episode of what the fuck
<v Speaker 1>is that guy's problem? Anyway? Or as I like to
<v Speaker 1>call it, Sword and Scale. Thanks for joining us. If
<v Speaker 1>you like the show, you can get a video version
<v Speaker 1>of it. We call it Sword and Scale Television or
<v Speaker 1>just Sword and Scale really, but it's available twenty episodes
<v Speaker 1>of it right now at Swordscale dot com. You can
<v Speaker 1>get it on Tier two or Tier three of our
<v Speaker 1>Plus subscription platform. It's a great way to support the show.
<v Speaker 1>Another great way to support the show is to buy
<v Speaker 1>a T shirt or a baseball cap, or a pair
<v Speaker 1>of boxer shorts or a pair of socks from our
<v Speaker 1>store at store dot Sword and Scale dot com. But
<v Speaker 1>before I forget, before I forget, this is news you
<v Speaker 1>want to hear. This is good news. First of all,
<v Speaker 1>we're gonna be gone for a little bit, but then
<v Speaker 1>we're gonna be back, and then next year we're gonna
<v Speaker 1>have season three of something we like to call Sword
<v Speaker 1>and Scale Nightmares.
<v Speaker 16>Factionation sending