{"id":24490,"date":"2024-12-10T17:55:42","date_gmt":"2024-12-11T00:55:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/aztec-woman-who-allegedly-killed-husband-released-from-jail\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:55:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:55:00","slug":"aztec-woman-who-allegedly-killed-husband-released-from-jail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/aztec-woman-who-allegedly-killed-husband-released-from-jail\/","title":{"rendered":"Aztec woman who allegedly killed husband released from jail"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Lucia
Lucia Naranjo, 69, of Aztec, is accused in the Jan. 21 shooting death of her husband, Richard Patterson, 67.<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

An Aztec woman accused of shooting and killing her husband was released from jail Monday after her lawyer argued that continued incarceration violated her rights.<\/p>\n

District Judge Curtis Gurley ordered the release of Lucia Naranjo, 70, after a Dec. 5 hearing in the 11th Judicial District Court.<\/p>\n

Naranjo was arrested Jan. 22 and charged with second-degree murder for allegedly shooting Richard Patterson, 67, in the head on Jan. 21 at the couple\u2019s home on County Road 3016.<\/p>\n

She was released from custody Feb. 6, but after testing positive for cocaine use on Feb. 14, she was remanded to the San Juan County Detention Center on March 7.<\/p>\n

On Nov. 18, Defense Attorney Mark Curnutt requested the court reconsider Naranjo\u2019s conditions of release, and filed a subsequent motion on Nov. 25 requesting an evidentiary hearing to reconsider conditions of release.<\/p>\n

In the motion, Curnutt argued that \u201cbaseless claims,\u201d were being made by the decedent\u2019s family and that \u201cshould not be considered by the Court to weigh against the Defendant\u2019s constitutional rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gurley heard from Patterson\u2019s children during a Dec. 5 hearing, and they spoke about Naranjo\u2019s alleged state of mind leading up to the shooting, as well as alleged missing property that is their father\u2019s and should be a part of the estate.<\/p>\n

Ryan Patterson, Richard Patterson\u2019s son, testified that before his father\u2019s death, his father told him Naranjo was allegedly \u201cbecoming increasingly erratic,\u201d drinking and taking drugs, and had \u201cthreatened others\u201d with a gun, according to court audio log notes.<\/p>\n

Ryan Patterson also stated there was a Chevy S-10 pickup that was part of the estate, and it was reportedly taking by Naranjo and not returned.<\/p>\n

The prosecution also called Marie Voss Patterson, Richard\u2019s daughter, who stated that her father told her of alleged \u201cunsafe behavior\u201d with a gun on the part of Naranjo, according to the audio log notes.<\/p>\n

At one point, Marie Voss Patterson stated family went to visit her father, and Naranjo allegedly had a gun \u201cpointed at him.\u201d He also reportedly pulled away from the family and would cancel plans because it \u201cwas unsafe to visit,\u201d court records state.<\/p>\n

Family members further stated that they believe a lot of their father\u2019s property was \u201cstolen,\u201d from the home he shared with Naranjo, and that Naranjo\u2019s daughter, Ricky Martinez, was living there, court records state.<\/p>\n

Curnutt stated that the community estate would be divided and the house could possibly be sold, but that concerns money, not Richard Patterson\u2019s property. He argued that nothing stated in court during the hearing \u201cshould dissuade the court\u201d of providing Naranjo with her right to be released until trial.<\/p>\n

Gurley ordered Naranjo\u2019s release with a long list of conditions, including that she wear a GPS monitor, be tested for alcohol and drugs weekly and to have no contact with Martinez, who would be ordered to leave the home.<\/p>\n

Gurley also asked what would happen if the house were to sell prior to trial, and Curnutt stated that Naranjo has \u201cseparate property that\u2019s a rental,\u201d which she might be able to buy.<\/p>\n

A status conference for Naranjo was set for 10 a.m. Jan. 27, and the jury trial is tentatively scheduled to begin March 14.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Naranjo on GPS monitor, submit to drug and alcohol testing weekly<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24491,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-24490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24490"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78551,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24490\/revisions\/78551"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24490"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=24490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}