Jury finds man guilty in house party shooting

By SAM KLOMHAUS Sam.Klomhaus@gjsentinel.com

A Fruita man accused of indiscriminately shooting into a house party in February, 2021, killing one and injuring three, was found guilty Wednesday.

A jury found Israel Maestas-Reza, who was 18 at the time of the shooting, guilty of murder, attempted murder and illegal discharge of a weapon following a trial that started Dec. 8 and ended Monday.

The shooting in question took place just after midnight Feb. 20. 2021 at a house on the 1000 block of Teller Avenue near Colorado Mesa University.

Jared Martinez, a 22-year-old CMU student, was killed and three people were wounded.

According to witnesses, the shooting occurred after a group was asked to leave the party by the hosts because the hosts didn’t know them.

The arrest affidavit states a witness told police a member of the group said Maestas-Reza was mad about being told to leave and started shooting into the house.

A gun and bullets that matched casings found at the scene were collected from Maestas-Reza’s residence, according to the affidavit.

The affidavit states data from Maestas-Reza’s cellphone showed that he was at the party at the time of the shooting, and left soon after the shooting was reported.

Prior to the trial, Maestas-Reza’s attorneys contested the collection of Maestas-Reza’s cellphone data because Grand Junction Police officers seized his phone before the search warrant had officially been signed. They also argued he had been taken into custody before having his Miranda rights read.

Maestas-Reza was found guilty of first degree murder, second degree murder, three counts of first degree attempted murder, three counts of second-degree attempted murder, and seven counts of illegal discharge of a weapon. He was found not guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit accessory to murder.

According to District Attorney Dan Rubinstein, when charging someone using the theory of extreme indifference, prosecutors also need to charge people for knowingly causing death. That is not the case for other types of first degree murder charges such as premeditation.

The distinction also exists for the attempted murder charges, which is why Maestas-Reza was charged with three counts of first-degree attempted murder and three counts of second-degree attempted murder.

Maestas-Reza was also found guilty of seven counts of illegal discharge of a weapon, one for each shot fired into the house.

The jury was polled, and unanimously affirmed the verdict.

Judge Brian Flynn set sentencing for Feb. 13.