A teenager who with two friends is accused of shooting and killing one man and injuring three teenagers at Santa Rita Park in October 2023 pleaded not guilty at an arraignment hearing on Friday.
Kayden Jacob Hernandez, 19, is charged with murder in the first degree, assault in the first degree, menacing and conspiracy, all felonies, in 6th Judicial District Court.
Hernandez and his two friends, Dominic Ethan Baker-Alires, 20, and Justin Lee Maez, 18, are accused of shooting and killing Rodney Bellino, 47, and injuring three teenagers on Oct. 23, 2023.
According to an affidavit, Hernandez, Maez and Baker-Alires, 20, met the victims at Santa Rita Park in Durango for a presumed one-on-one fistfight. But when the trio arrived in a black Dodge Charger, they immediately opened fire with an AR-15 platform rifle and pistols.
Baker-Alires was sentenced last week to 45 years in prison for the murder of Bellino and the assault against the teenage victims.
At his sentencing hearing, victims and witnesses recounted the terror and turmoil the ambush-style shooting caused them.
Victim Damian Wiebe said he was shot and inflicted with a tennis ball-sized hole in his back, crippling him and costing him months of relearning how to walk.
Sixth Judicial District Judge Suzanne Carlson set Hernandez’s trial to begin July 14.
Defense attorneys for Hernandez asked Carlson for a two-week trial period. Sixth Judicial District Attorney Sean Murray said he anticipates the trial to last up to seven business days.
Murray and deputy district attorneys Vance Davis and Miles Dudley are prosecuting the case against Hernandez.
cburney@durangoherald.com
