Ninth Judicial District Attorney, Andrea Reeb, announced that yesterday evening [Thursday] a Curry County jury found David Gutierrez, Jr., age 35, of Clovis, NM, guilty of First Degree Murder in the 2002 shooting death of Jose Valverde .
The jury heard testimony during the four-day trial from the Medical Examiner’s Office, an expert in polygraph testing, law enforcement officers and other civilian witnesses.
In April of 2002, Jose Valverde was found in a boxcar that he used as his residence with an apparent gunshot wound to the face. A homicide investigation was opened and diligently worked by the Clovis Police Department. Since May 2011, witnesses began to come forward with new information about the unsolved murder case.
The Honorable Drew D. Tatum presided over the trial this week. After hearing a statement from the victim’s family, Judge Tatum sentenced Gutierrez to the mandatory life sentence and enhanced the sentence by one year for the use of a firearm during the murder. Judge Tatum said to the defendant, “I hope you can find peace one day because you have committed the most heinous act that can be done against humanity.”
District Attorney Andrea Reeb prosecuted the case for the State and James Klipstine of Hobbs, NM, represented Gutierrez.
(Press release from Ninth Judicial District Attorney)
