LAS CRUCES, N.M. – A third trial for a former Santa Fe County sheriff’s deputy accused in the 2014 shooting death of a fellow deputy has been postponed.
KVIA-TV in El Paso, Texas, reports the New Mexico Third District Court District Attorney’s office says scheduling issues for witnesses were the primary reason for the delay.
The voluntary manslaughter trial against Tai Chan was originally slated to begin June 24 in Las Cruces.
Chan has been tried twice on a first-degree murder charge in the death of Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Deputy Jeremy Martin. Both of those ended in mistrials.
He is accused of shooting Martin in the back as Martin fled during an argument at the hotel where they had stopped on a trip to transport a prisoner to Arizona.
Chan has claimed self-defense.
