• The prosecution and defense agreed to send Larrison Hunch to a mental hospital until he is competent
• Hunch is charged with second-degree murder for the beating death of Alvin Adakai, 62
Read the case write-up
GALLUP, N.M. — A Mentmore man charged with second-degree murder for a motel beating death in 2020 had his case stayed, March 9, 2021, after his attorney raised the question of competency.
Attorney Todd Farkas raised the issue of Larrison Hunch‘s competency on March 1, before District Judge Robert Aragon stayed the case on March 9, according to the docket.
Farkas said during a hearing on March 5, 2021, that a neuropsychologist told him she did not believe Hunch, 45, was competent to stand trial, according to audio logs.
During a subsequent hearing on March 29, 2021, prosecutor John Bernitz asked the judge to send Hunch to the mental hospital in Las Vegas for a second evaluation and Farkas said they already reached an agreement on the evaluation, according to the audio logs.
According to the docket, Hunch was sent to the New Mexico Behavioral Health Institute in Las Vegas to “attain competency to stand trial.”
No new court dates have been set.
Hunch has been in custody since May 20, 2020, when he was arrested.
On June 2, 2020, Hunch was bound over to district court on charges of second-degree murder, robbery and tampering with evidence.
Hunch waived his right to a preliminary hearing or the presentation of the case to a grand jury on the condition that prosecutors dismiss, with prejudice, the charge of first-degree murder.
District Judge Robert Aragon arraigned him in district court on June 16, 2020 and he pleaded not guilty.
The incident
Read more about the incident and witness interviews in the case write-up
Gallup Det. Andrew Thayer wrote in an affidavit for an arrest warrant for Hunch that he was called out to the Lariat Lodge in Gallup where Alvin Adakai, 62, of Manuelito, had been found dead, on May 17, 2020.
At 10:28 a.m., when the manager Hitendrakumar Patel went to check the room, Adakai was lying on the floor in between the two beds. After grabbing his arm and receiving no response, he called police. Office of the Medical Investigator Field Investigator Harolynn Yazzie told Thayer that Adakai’s death was suspicious but the pathologist who conducted the autopsy would contact him with more information, he wrote.
That same day, pathologist Satish Chundru told Thayer Adakai’s death was a homicide and his neck bones were fractured.
Larrison Hunch’s girlfriend, Kerry Norton, told police that Hunch beat Adakai after he fell off of the bed during the night and after they had been drinking. Hunch was arrested on May 20 and denied hurting Adakai, according to court records.
On May 20, Thayer and Gonzales interrogated Hunch after he signed a Miranda rights waiver, Thayer wrote.
Hunch said Adakai appeared to be suffering from the coronavirus, he appeared weak and he probably died from it, Thayer wrote. Adakai did not look like anything happened to him when they left his motel room in the morning. He denied saying he “manhandled” Adakai.
Thayer and Gonzales left to retrieve the recording and when they came back, Hunch said he wanted a lawyer.
Detectives charged Hunch with an open count of murder, robbery and tampering with evidence.
View the court documents on Document Cloud or read the case write-up
- Suspect: Larrison Hunch, 45
- Victim: Alvin Adakai, 62
- Date of incident: May 16, 2020
- Charges: Second-degree murder, robbery, tampering with evidence
- Status: Pending
- Sentence: n/a
- Investigating Agency: Gallup Police Department
- Main investigator: Andrew Thayer
- Incident Location: Lariat Lodge, 1105 East Highway 66, Gallup
- County: McKinley County
- Judicial District: 11th Judicial District
- Prosecuting agency: 11th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, Division II
- Prosecutor: Cosme Ripol, John Bernitz
- Defense attorney: Todd Farkas
- District judge: Robert Aragon
- Magistrate case number: M-35-FR-2020-00201
- District Case number: D-1113-CR-2020-65
- Detention case: D-113-LR-2020-00005
- Detention judge: Louis DePauli Jr.
I was a student in the 80s at Flora Vista Elm.school now Nancy Lopez, in Roswell NM around 1-2 grade a girl was a student there I can’t remember her name but I’m sure she said it was Antoinette. I only saw her a few 2 times. She seemed afraid to speak but I remember her lip scar kuz she smiled when I wanted to be her friend…
I called the number to report me seeing or believe to have seen Antoniette. But never got any feed back..it might be a place to search for her ..thank you.
I personally would back the prohibition of alcohol in the entire State of New Mexico. You may gasp, and look askance, and shake your old head, and repeat the myth that prohibition didn’t work. Yes, prohibition did work, and many families lived happily and safely during those short years it was in effect. If your habit is alcohol, then find another habit. If you care one whit about children, and women, and the aged, you would honestly conclude that it is a viable solution. Honestly, this would eliminate jobs for all the people who receive a salary due to alcohol—from grocery stores to waitresses to corrections officers to judges. If you could stand for your insurance rates to come down, and healthcare costs to be reduced, and fewer people to be on dialysis, the roads to be safer, and not to be a prisoner in your home on weekends, eliminate alcohol from New Mexico. It’s a beautiful state that has been ravaged by this scourge.