Kristina Withrow, Albuquerque, New Mexico mom convicted of second degree murder of homeless woman after instructing son to shoot towards victim in alleyway near their home after ‘feeling’ threatened.
A New Mexico woman who handed her son a gun and told him to shoot in the direction of a homeless woman has been convicted of murder.
Kristina Withrow, 45, was on Thursday found guilty by a jury in Bernalillo County of second-degree murder with a firearm enhancement, aggravated assault with a firearm enhancement and tampering with evidence.
Withrow was charged following the death of Monique Garcia, 36, whom her son Kristian Crespin confessed to fatally shooting last year. Crespin pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
Albuquerque mother ought to have been aware her instructions to son put homeless woman in immediate danger
In September, a jury sentenced Crespin to 18 years in prison, which had been the maximum under the plea deal the 18 year old man had agreed to KRQE previously reported.
The mother and son’s conviction follow an April 3, 2023 incident in which the mother claimed noticing Garcia in an alleyway near her apartment and asking the ‘homeless’ woman to leave the walkway, according to a news release from the Albuquerque Police Department.
When the woman refused, an argument allegedly broke out between the two women, with Withrow in turn going to her car and retrieving a gun, before then handing the weapon to her son and instructing him to shoot towards her. Presumably aware, or ought to have known that such an instruction implied a high probability of the homeless woman being shot and possibly killed, never mind, ‘scared away’.
Withrow told police that when Garcia began to approach her, she pulled out her handgun and then handed it to her son, with the mother instructing her son to ‘shoot’ in the direction of the ‘homeless’ woman.
Crespin then fired three shots at Garcia, one of which proved to be fatal.
Garcia, 36, was pronounced dead later that day after being rushed to a local hospital.
Kristina Withrow claimed ‘feeling’ threatened
Not immediately clear is how Garcia came to be at the apartment walkway and how she came to be homeless and what threat, if any, the woman posed to the mother and son.
The woman’s defense had claimed that the area highlighted the dangers of Withrow’s neighborhood near Zuni and San Mateo SE according to ABQ Journal.
‘There were shootings and stabbings and killings and break-ins, just threats coming all the time,’ Withrow’s attorney, Keren Fenderson told jurors in closing statements.
Fenderson told jurors the mother was ‘frightened’ and ‘alarmed’ by the homeless woman.
‘It felt like a constant state of fight or flight, like being in a war zone,’ Withrow told jurors, testifying on her own behalf. The violence in the area had left her traumatized and prompted her to carry a gun, she said.
At the time of the shooting, Garcia was un-armed and had not threatened the mother and son, the APD stated. Nevertheless Withrow regarded the homeless woman’s presence and demeanor as a ‘threat’.
‘This was a deliberate act, either by Kristina (Withrow) or her son,’
Withrow had claimed that she had shot Garcia, but the APD said that multiple eyewitnesses told responding officers that a male had been seen firing the gun and then fleeing the scene.
‘Initially, Withrow told police she was the one who opened fire, but later admitted that she ordered her son to shoot,’ Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman said in a statement.
‘This was a deliberate act, either by Kristina (Withrow) or her son,’ prosecutors told the jury. ‘This wasn’t an intent to scare. It was not rash or sudden.’
Jurors had the option to convict Withrow on first degree murder, ultimately electing to find her guilty on the second-degree charge.
The jury deliberated for a little over three hours following the four-day trial.
Sentencing for Withrow is to take place at a later date.
