- Suspect: Kimsey Barboan
- Victim: Anthony Martinez, 61
- Charges: Second-degree murder, unlawful taking of a vehicle, tampering with evidence, DWI, driving on a license revoked for DWI and open container of alcohol in a vehicle
- Status: Pleaded down to voluntary manslaughter, unlawful taking of a vehicle and DWI third offense
- Sentence: 4 years followed by 3.5 years supervised release, per plea agreement; credit for 1.5 years time served
- Date of incident: Dec. 16, 2017
- Investigating Agency: State Police
- Location: 334 County Road 13, Cuba, Sandoval County
- Magistrate case number: M-45-FR-2017-00919
- District case number: D-1329-CR-201800063
Summary
On Dec. 16, 2017, Kimsey Barboan, 33, beat his roommate, Anthony Martinez, 61, to death with a baseball bat at their Cuba home. He then drove to a gas station in Cuba where he was reported as lying in a truck with a head wound. He was sent to the hospital, and then arrested, for drunk driving and felon in possession of a firearm. Officers found a bloody bat in the truck.
On Dec. 18, 2017, two of Martinez’s friends went to his house on County Road 13 and found he was lying, dead, inside the house. The next day, State Police agents charged Barboan with an open count of murder.
On Feb. 1, 2018, a Sandoval County grand jury indicted Barboan on a series of charges, including second-degree murder.
On June 17, 2019, Barboan pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, unlawful taking of a vehicle and DWI third offense. As part of his plea deal, his sentence was set at 4 years followed by 3.5 years of supervised probation.
The incident
On Dec. 16, 2017, Kimsey Barboan beat his roommate, Anthony Martinez, 61, to death with a baseball bat.
He was only arrested charged with Martinez’s death three days later, while he was already in custody on charges related to drunk driving and the illegal possession of a firearm, State Police Agent Marcus Lopez wrote in an affidavit for an arrest warrant.
Lopez wrote that he interviewed Barboan, along with Agent Tony DeTavis, on Dec. 18, 2017.
“Mr. Barboan advised he had been chopping wood at the residence, 334 County Rd 13 (sic),” Lopez wrote. “Mr. Barboan advised he currently lives there with Anthony Martinez.”
Barboan told the agents that at 5 p.m. on Dec. 16, 2017, he went into the house and Martinez “jumped him and struck him with a wooden baseball bat,” Lopez wrote.
“He sustained injuries to the left side of his head and face,” Lopez wrote. “Mr. Barboan advised he got the baseball bat away from Mr. Martinez and began to strike Mr. Martinez with the baseball bat. He advised he did see blood on the facial area of Mr. Martinez.”
He told the detectives there were stolen guns in the house and Martinez used illegal drugs.
“Mr. Barboan stated he left the residence and also started Mr. Martinez was making some type of groaning noises,” Lopez wrote. “He took the baseball bat and broke out the window to the 1985 Blue GMC pickup, the driver’s side door.”
Lopez wrote that State Police Officer Darrell Blackhorse was told by dispatchers to be on the lookout for a 1980s Chevy pickup on the evening of Dec. 16, 2017 and he found it at the Circle K in Cuba.
Officers did not know about the homicide at this point.
Lopez did not write why Blackhorse was told to look for the truck.
Inside the truck, Barboan was lying across the front seat. He had a cut on the left side of his forehead. Blackhorse called for an ambulance and Barboan told him he got the cut because was jumped by “numerous white males,” Lopez wrote.
In the truck, Blackhorse found a bloody baseball bat and a rifle. He left the bat and seized the rifle and called an ambulance for Barboan, who was transported to the hospital. After Barboan was released, Blackhorse charged him for drunk driving, felon in possession of a firearm, driving on a revoked license, open container of alcohol in a vehicle and on two felony arrest warrants, he wrote.
Two days later, at 11:30 a.m., Dec. 18, 2017, two friends of Martinez went to his house. One of them, Coby Aragon, wanted to see if Martinez had any work for him, Lopez wrote.
When he went into the house, he found Martinez on the floor and told his friend, who called 911, he wrote.
Sandoval County Sheriff’s Deputy Robert Stand arrived and saw Martinez appeared to have blunt trauma to the head and “there was lots of blood.” Martinez was cold to the touch and had no pulse, Lopez wrote.
Stand noted that it appeared there had been a struggle in the house and there was blood on several walls, he wrote.
Where the kitchen and living room met, there was a dark baseball bat with blood on it. The deputies referred the case to the State Police agents, Lopez wrote.
Lopez and DeTavis then interviewed Barboan while he was being held at the Sandoval County Detention Center, he wrote.
Lopez charged him with an open count of murder and tampering with evidence.
On Feb. 1, 2018, a Sandoval County grand jury indicted Barboan on charges of second-degree murder, unlawful taking of a vehicle, tampering with evidence, DWI, driving on a license revoked for DWI and open container of alcohol in a vehicle.
Below is the affidavit for an arrest warrant by Lopez.
12-19-2017 - Affidavit arrest warrant - Kimsey Barboan
Plea and sentence
On June 17, 2019, Kimsey Barboan pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, unlawful taking of a vehicle and DWI third offense.
District Court Judge Louis McDonald accepted the plea, which set Barboan’s sentence at four years followed by three-and-a-half years of supervised probation, according to the judgement and sentence.
The plea was also signed by prosecutor Amy Lopez Dooling.
Barboan received credit for time served of 547 days, or just over a year and a half.
According to the plea deal, Barboan killed Anthony Martinez “as a result of sufficient provocation” but no court documents state what, specifically, Martinez did to sufficiently provoke Barboan.
Below is the plea agreement signed by McDonald, Dooling and Barboan’s attorney, Michael Rosenfield:
6-17-2019 - Plea - Kimsey Barboan
See all the case documents on Google Drive
