Teen defendant in JB White killing: 'I shot at him to stop him'
May 17—Estevan Montoya said he was scared, so he ran.
And when he couldn't run anymore, he used a gun to defend himself.
The Santa Fe teenager charged with murder in the shooting death of high school basketball star Fedonta "JB" White took the stand in his own defense Monday, telling jurors he fired the fatal shot because the Santa Fe High athlete was chasing him — and he was afraid.
The case — one of the most high-profile in recent Santa Fe history — is now before the jury.
Montoya showed little emotion as he testified how and why he fired the fatal shot after a brief verbal exchange with White at a house party in Chupadero in 2020.
"He didn't even let me finish what I was saying," Montoya said of White, referring to a dispute between two other teens that led to the altercation. "He was already lunging off the porch, throwing a power punch."
Under direct examination from defense lawyer Dan Marlowe, Montoya detailed the dispute.
"I remember when he threw the punch I leaned back to like dodge his punch, and when it went by I could feel I could see his strength, his force, his speed that he had," Montoya said. "And I knew that if he would have landed that punch ... I knew that punch would have knocked me out or broke my jaw maybe broke my teeth. And I got scared so I took off running.
Montoya then outlined what he said was a chase near a fence.
"I could hear him closing in on me and I could still feel him like right behind me," Montoya said in a monotone. "I was running out of room; there was no way I could have jumped the fence with him right behind me. The only option I had was the gun. And so I had the gun in my left pocket and I pulled the gun out and I chambered it with my right hand.
"I glanced back, and right when I glanced back I seen him still swinging. He was like in motion and swinging, I like arched my back so it wouldn't hit me and when I seen him, I shot at him to stop him."
Montoya told Marlowe he was carrying a gun that night because close friend Ivan Perez had been fatally shot mere feet from him a few weeks before.
He said he was scared he could be next.
But Chief Deputy District Attorney Blake Nichols challenged that assertion during his cross examination, contending Montoya regularly carried and dealt firearms as part of the South Side Goons — a group of teens Marlowe has characterized as wannabe gang members — but who Nichols said acted as a real gang, including dealing weapons.
"You don't dispute you bought and sold firearms do you?" Nichols asked.
"What does dispute mean?" Montoya replied, before acknowledging he had bought, sold and carried weapons before.
White was 18 at the time of his death and had just graduated high school a year early in order to join the University of New Mexico basketball program in the fall. Montoya, now 18, was 16 when the shooting occurred.
Nichols also challenged Montoya's testimony he'd thrown the gun into the darkness while running away from the scene, noting detectives never found the weapon despite multiple searches of the area.
Montoya was the final witness to testify during the evidence portion of the trial, which began May 4.
But his testimony was not compelling enough for state District Judge T. Glenn Ellington to instruct the jury on the elements of a justified killing based on self-defense. The judge denied a motion from Montoya's attorney that he do so.
Instead, the judge told jurors they had the option of finding Montoya guilty or not guilty of first-degree premeditated murder, depraved-mind murder or a lesser offense of second-degree murder. In addition, Montoya is charged with tampering with evidence, unlawful carrying of a handgun and negligent use of a deadly weapon.
Attorneys delivered closing statements Monday after Montoya's testimony, offering the jury vastly different interpretations of the shooting.
Nichols argued even if Montoya's claim of arming himself that night because of his friend's recent death were true, it didn't justify what he'd done.
"If we believe that's why he was carrying a gun, fine," Nichols said. "Where in any of these instructions does it say that if your buddy is murdered you get to turn around and do that to another innocent kid?
"The real reason JB White is dead," Nichols told jurors, "is that this man wanted to prove how big and bad he was. ... Anybody who disrespected the Goons or the defendant that night was fair game."
Nichols suggested envy also may have played a role in Montoya's decision to shoot White, noting the defendant didn't confront any of the other young men who may have been involved in intervening in a squabble between two of Montoya's friends.
"There is [White] a tall, athletic, handsome kid. A pretty girl on his arm all night long, just graduated early, getting ready to go to college, play basketball, he's successful. He's friends with everyone at the party," Nichols said. "He's everything the defendant is not. ... Probably also didn't hurt that [White] was a little taller that everybody else."
White's only transgression, Nichols said, was saying, " 'Hey, shut that goofy kid up.' And that's all it took. That's why he's dead. Think about that, how sick and sad and twisted is that. That's literally all it takes to get shot and killed at a high school party with all your friends."
In his closing argument, Marlowe told jurors the downward trajectory of the bullet as it entered White's body supports Montoya's claim he shot White while running away in fear — not the state's theory that he stopped, turned and fired point blank at the victim.
"The state's trying to paint [Montoya] as this ruthless, evil guy," the defense attorney said.
"All these facts in no way show willful or intentional killing," Marlowe continued. "It doesn't show a reckless, depraved state of mind. He shot a gun at the person who was behind him. ... He didn't go out to start a fight. He was running from a fight."
Jurors received the case around 4 p.m. Monday, and informed the judge about an hour later they wished to go home and return Tuesday morning to continue deliberating.
