NM - Tera Chavez, 26, found dead in her Los Lunas home, 22 Oct 2007 - #1

He's feeling an overwhelming sense of guilt--knowing he LIED to the police dept. chaplain and the sweet and decent man believes him.

I agree. Interesting what broke LC, not Tera the mother of his children because he hated her and he killed her IMO.... but this piece of testimony got to him. He never felt ill before or wept really except when his momma was on the stand.
 
Plus I believe that Tera did tell people that if something happens to me then Levi did it and none of the heresay could be admitted, the PT lost that argument to that come into trial. IMO LC had no self control and had a manipulative personality, then he got a gun and a badge and he could do and get away with whatever he wanted in his mind.

Yep. I couldn't say thank you enough to this

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Did Serna tell the judge he only has one witness tomorrow and that one may go into the afternoon? Why isn't Serna scheduling his witnesses properly?
 
Did Serna tell the judge he only has one witness tomorrow and that one may go into the afternoon? Why isn't Serna scheduling his witnesses properly?

Why is the judge allowing it as well?

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Well I had a couple of meetings this afternoon and missed the end of one witness and another witness who is the chaplin? Anything else I might have missed?
 
Well I had a couple of meetings this afternoon and missed the end of one witness and another witness who is the chaplin? Anything else I might have missed?

Thundar I don't know where to begin... LC mother Rita Romero and then LC's police partner the weekend that Tera died Russel Perea. Reading the thread and articles of the testimony does not do it justice. It was crazy and IMO the prosecution won today. I wish KOAT had the video in there archive so you could go back and watch it but I could not find it... if anybody finds it please post the link.
 
Levi Chavez’s mother testifies
By Jeff Proctor / Journal Staff Writer on Tue, Jul 2, 2013

BERNALILLO — Two of Levi Chavez’s alibi witnesses gave testimony — in one case emotional and in the other combative — in front of a packed courtroom this morning as control of the former Albuquerque police officer’s murder trial shifted to the defense.

First on the witness stand was Rita Romero, Levi Chavez’s mother, who often testified through sobs as she told defense attorney David Serna how much she loved her former daughter-in-law, Tera Chavez.

But Romero also testified that Tera was essentially lost during her numerous separations from Levi. She used words such as “lonely,” “scared” and “isolated.”

Those separations, according to earlier testimony, were due in large part to Levi Chavez’s longstanding habit of cheating on Tera. The unfaithfulness began early in the couple’s 10-year relationship, around the time Tera became pregnant with the couple’s first child shortly before her 16th birthday.

But Romero said she never knew about her son’s infidelity — only that he and Tera “were having problems.”

Romero testified that she had regrets about “guilting and coercing” her son to remain married to Tera even though the two “should’ve been divorced many years ago.”

“I could’ve been a better parent and recommended that it was in the best interest that they not be together,” she said.

Assistant District Attorney Anne Keener, on cross-examination, asked Romero to confirm that she had left her marriage to Levi Chavez Sr. because of “cheating, gambling” and the debt he left her in.

Serna objected to the question, and Eichwald sustained the objection.

Levi Chavez is charged with first-degree murder and evidence tampering. Prosecutors allege that he killed Tera in the couple’s Los Lunas home on either Oct. 19, 20 or 21, 2007 and tried to make her death look like a suicide.

The defense contends that Tera shot herself with her husband’s Albuquerque Police Department-issued pistol.

Levi Chavez cried at the defense table while his mother testified.

At one point, state District Judge George P. Eichwald gave Romero a five-minute break from the witness stand when it appeared she may not be able to continue testifying. She left the courtroom in tears and came back in eight minutes later, still dabbing at her eyes with a tissue.

Romero described the relationship between Levi’s family and Tera’s family as “nonexistent.”

“We traveled in different circles,” she said. “They are very private, and we just didn’t pal around together.”

Levi was staying with his mother in October 2007, she testified today, during one of the couple’s estrangements.

On Oct. 21 of that year — a Sunday — Romero tried several times to call her son to set up a lunch date, according to her testimony. She was unsuccessful, but Levi later showed up at her home in Los Lunas shortly after 8 p.m.

Romero testified that by then, she had learned that Tera didn’t go to work at Style America that day, and that she hadn’t called in sick, as she had the day before.

She said she passed that information along to her son, who decided to go by the couple’s home to check on Tera.

Levi Chavez called 911 around 9 p.m. that day, Oct. 21, 2007, to say his wife had shot herself in the head.

In the days after Tera’s death, Romero said, her son was “distraught, broken, fragile” and unwilling to leave his room.

According to testimony earlier in the trial, he was exchanging text messages 24 days after the 911 call with another APD officer about the two getting married.

Levi Chavez did, indeed, marry Heather Chavez (née Hindi) in the summer of 2008.

After Romero testified, Russell Perea took the witness stand — armed with a promise if immunity granted by Eichwald in exchange for his testimony.

Perea, a former APD officer, was sharing a police vehicle with Levi Chavez on Oct. 19 and 20.

His much-anticipated testimony did not appear to help either side, as Perea said that he couldn’t be sure where Levi Chavez was for the entirety of the two swing shifts.

http://www.abqjournal.com/main/216743/news/gun-expert-explains-glock-anomaly.html
 
I'm still on a quest to locate archived video from this trial. So far, no luck. I did find the following which I find interesting. At least we're not the only ones who suspected this. If I were a resident of this city I'd be outraged at the goings on in this police department. The last sentence by Nick Wheeler is probably an underestimate.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Suit: APD Affairs Figured in Death

By Scott Sandlin
Copyright © 2010 Albuquerque Journal
Journal Staff Writer
Sexual intrigue was rampant among dozens of Albuquerque Police Department officers and their wives, and widely discussed, according to documents unsealed in a civil lawsuit this week.
Attorneys for the estate of Tera Chavez, who died of a gunshot to the mouth fired from her police officer husband's handgun in October 2007, allege the "unchecked fraternization" helped create an unstable and unhealthy work environment that played a role in her death.
They have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against officer Levi M. Chavez II and the city alleging inadequate supervision and also contend the city-owned Glock handgun that fired the fatal shot was the responsibility of the officer.
According to testimony in court this week, Levi Chavez is a suspect in his wife's death and a related insurance fraud probe.
Attorney Brad Hall contends APD had a duty to intervene to curb the behavior and failed to do so — with harm or death a foreseeable result.
Deputy City Attorney Kathryn Levy argued that employers are limited in the extent to which they can govern their employees' behavior.
"There has to be something reasonably related to the scope of employment," she told Chief Judge Ted Baca during argument this week. Baca is being asked for pretrial rulings on certain liability issues.
Levi Chavez has admitted to having girlfriends while he was married, including APD officer Heather Hindi, whom he married within days of her divorce from another APD officer after Tera's death, according to court documents.
No supervisor told him he shouldn't have girlfriends among law enforcement officers or their spouses, Hall's motion states.
Officer Steve Hindi said in a sworn statement filed in the case that he first met Levi Chavez in 2000 during a ride-along when Chavez was trying to make a lateral transfer from the city Aviation Police to APD.
The mayor and chief were implementing a policy to hire "as many laterals as possible, even officers who APD had refused to hire earlier," Hindi said in an affidavit.
"I am now aware that (Chavez) romantically pursued my wife in 2007, well before his wife died," his affidavit says.
Hindi said in the affidavit that he went home for lunch in November 2007 soon after the death of Tera Chavez and found his wife and Chavez together.
"Lying to the KDT (computer) and call log systems in order to romantically meet my wife at our home should be cause for being fired," the affidavit said.
Hindi says he lost 30 pounds, needed medication for stress and sleep loss and believes his job performance as well as his wife's and Chavez's suffered while the affair was going on.
Another female APD officer acknowledged a relationship with Chavez in October and November 2007 but said she believed she was keeping her work and private lives separate despite over 500 phone calls and voice mails between them in that period.
Levi Chavez was not the only one having an affair.
Samantha Wheeler, the wife of APD officer Nick Wheeler, said in a May 2009 affidavit that although she was a close friend of Tera Chavez and maid of honor at her wedding to Levi, Tera and her husband were having an affair in the months leading up to Tera's death.
Samantha Wheeler said she was unaware of the affair until August 2007, and then discussed it with Tera openly. She said APD customs and policies regarding cheating led to harm to her own marriage.
"As a military wife, I appreciate their anti-fraternization policy. I believe that APD policy should be like the military," she wrote. Wheeler said she believes APD's failure to train and supervise on- and off-duty behavior that wrecks families "contributed to causing her (Tera's) death."
In his deposition testimony, Nick Wheeler said he had observed officers cheating on their wives since he joined the department as a police service aide in 2000. He estimated the number of romantic entanglements at "probably about a hundred."
 
I found this case on WS by accident. This lady was an attorney in Albuquerque who fought the police department on every level for many years. She represented the down and out against charges the police department brought against them. She was found dead in her garage, the APD botched the investigation, saying it was a suicide. Yet the doors and windows of the car were open/down. There is more current info about this case, nothing much new except that several officers and their superiors took cell phone pics of her dead body. The phones were called in for evidence and most had been *broken* or *lost*. I read in another post that there were 24 officers at the scene after word of her death got out. That's insane. I'm glad her family is bringing suit and I hope they win.

Family: APD botched death investigation
Mary Han found dead inside her car

Updated: Wednesday, 10 Aug 2011, 11:03 AM MDT
Published : Tuesday, 09 Aug 2011, 10:05 PM MDT

Reporter: Alex Tomlin Alex Tomlin

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - She was a well-known civil rights lawyer who often made police angry. Now, her family claims the department botched the investigation into her death, and didn't treat her home as a possible crime scene.

Mary Han's death last November was ruled a suicide, but her family claims, and police reports show, it wasn't a clear cut investigation.

Mary Han spearheaded some big battles against Albuquerque Police in her 25 years as an attorney. Her family claims that led to police bias when officers swarmed her north valley home to investigate her death.

News 13 has learned the family plans to file a lawsuit claiming police ignored or destroyed evidence at Han's home and acted inappropriately during the investigation.

Han was found dead inside her BMW in her closed garage. News 13 got copies of the police reports from that day.

Han was in the driver's seat with her feet up on the dash. Police said a tumbler with vodka was in the center console, and sleeping pills in the passenger seat.

Both cops, and Han's law partner Paul Kennedy, who found her body, said the house and garage were full of carbon monoxide. But, the first officer on scene made it clear things weren't right.

He noted all of Han's car windows were down, her car was cool to the touch, and the battery was dead. A BMW expert told officers the car would have to be out of gas for it to turn off, but when officers jumped it, it still had half a tank.

Han's sister then alerted police that Han's wallet was out of her purse and her jewelry was missing.

I couldn't get ahold of the attorney for Han's family. City officials refused to go on camera citing the pending lawsuit, but the mayor's office did send this statement.

“On November 18, 2010 the Albuquerque Police Department, along with the Office of the Medical Investigator, conducted an investigation concerning the unattended death of Mary Han, a prominent and high profile local attorney. APD responds to all unattended deaths. Following standard operating procedures, the scene was secured and thoroughly investigated by police personnel, including forensic specialists. The scene was investigated by both police and OMI to determine whether or not any evidence was present to indicate a violent crime had occurred. There was no evidence to indicate foul play was involved. OMI personnel determined the evidence was consistent with a suicide. The OMI found the cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning and the manner of death was suicide. Due to the high profile nature of Ms. Han and the fact that all personnel recognized that the confidentiality of Ms. Han’s legal work-product should be protected, many City personnel responded to the scene. Public information personnel and police administrators were present to address questions from the local media. The City Attorney was present to address issues surrounding legal documents, computers and other sensitive legal items present at the scene. The City Attorney worked with Ms. Han’s law partner, Paul Kennedy at the premises after it was released by investigators, to ensure confidentiality of any legal items present.” Robert Kidd, Interim City Attorney

The family's lawyers have asked APD to turn over any text messages, emails, or recordings made by any officers about Mary Han's death. At least one APD officer got in trouble for joking about Han's death on the internet.
 
He does not feel remorse for murdering his wife. He only feels remorse for himself.
Do not forget that he got rid of All his wife's belongings-before she was even buried.
He is a "Classic Example" of an Eraser Killer".
Read the book-Missing Women, Murdered Wives by Marilee Strong.
Levi Chavez is a poster perfect "Eraser Killer".
He is almost laughable.
So, how do I really feel about Levi Chavez's guilt? 100% guilty.
I can only hope that the jury sees through the smoke and mirrors, cover ups, and his defence teams attempts to save his sorry arse.

If he gets a non guilty or a second degree murder charge. I will likely throw up.



QUOTE=Jewels53;9624370]Is he Scared![/QUOTE]
 
He does not feel remorse for murdering his wife. He only feels remorse for himself.
Do not forget that he got rid of All his wife's belongings-before she was even buried.
He is a "Classic Example" of an Eraser Killer".
Read the book-Missing Women, Murdered Wives by Marilee Strong.
Levi Chavez is a poster perfect "Eraser Killer".
He is almost laughable.
So, how do I really feel about Levi Chavez's guilt? 100% guilty.
I can only hope that the jury sees through the smoke and mirrors, cover ups, and his defence teams attempts to save his sorry arse.

If he gets a non guilty or a second degree murder charge. I will likely throw up.



QUOTE=Jewels53;9624370]Is he Scared!
[/QUOTE]

Thanks KALI and I think you have Levi pegged right. I hope and pray the jury also is seeing right through this also.

I have to say I wonder if you are using initials for your user name or is that you name. My GD's name is Kali also.
 
Good Morning Everybody!
CJ, I hope you are feeling better this morning. I'm interested in seeing who this witness is this morning who is flying in and will testify most of the morning and perhaps into the early afternoon. I hope somehow the prosecution can turn her/him around.
 
He does not feel remorse for murdering his wife. He only feels remorse for himself.
Do not forget that he got rid of All his wife's belongings-before she was even buried.
He is a "Classic Example" of an Eraser Killer".
Read the book-Missing Women, Murdered Wives by Marilee Strong.
Levi Chavez is a poster perfect "Eraser Killer".
He is almost laughable.
So, how do I really feel about Levi Chavez's guilt? 100% guilty.
I can only hope that the jury sees through the smoke and mirrors, cover ups, and his defence teams attempts to save his sorry arse.

If he gets a non guilty or a second degree murder charge. I will likely throw up.



QUOTE=Jewels53;9624370]Is he Scared!
[/QUOTE]

You and me both. I haven't felt so deeply invested in a case.....I have personalized it too much I guess

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2
 
At work today so I will rely on WAT twitters and y'alls posts....I can do homework but streaming I doubt I could. As it is I am stuck with a snooty entitled nurse...blech

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2
 
He does not feel remorse for murdering his wife. He only feels remorse for himself.
Do not forget that he got rid of All his wife's belongings-before she was even buried.
He is a "Classic Example" of an Eraser Killer".
Read the book-Missing Women, Murdered Wives by Marilee Strong.
Levi Chavez is a poster perfect "Eraser Killer".
He is almost laughable.
So, how do I really feel about Levi Chavez's guilt? 100% guilty.
I can only hope that the jury sees through the smoke and mirrors, cover ups, and his defence teams attempts to save his sorry arse.

If he gets a non guilty or a second degree murder charge. I will likely throw up.



QUOTE=Jewels53;9624370]Is he Scared!
[/QUOTE]

I would happily take a 2nd degree murder conviction over a not guilty. Anything, just as long as he spends a sufficient amount of time in prison....especially since he's been out on bail, he has been a free man since this whole thing began for the most part. For her parent's sake, I would love to see 1st degree with NO chance of parole.
Did we ever find out what the make up of the jury is?
 
Good morning everybody!

I have missed the last day and a half's worth of testimony because KOAT's website gave an error code saying livefeed was unavailable.

Did I miss anything?

Anyone think the defense's final witness will be Levi Chavez? I don't think he would present well under cross so I think serna will keep him off the stand but who knows?
 
He does not feel remorse for murdering his wife. He only feels remorse for himself.
Do not forget that he got rid of All his wife's belongings-before she was even buried.
He is a "Classic Example" of an Eraser Killer".
Read the book-Missing Women, Murdered Wives by Marilee Strong.
Levi Chavez is a poster perfect "Eraser Killer".
He is almost laughable.
So, how do I really feel about Levi Chavez's guilt? 100% guilty.
I can only hope that the jury sees through the smoke and mirrors, cover ups, and his defence teams attempts to save his sorry arse.

If he gets a non guilty or a second degree murder charge. I will likely throw up.



QUOTE=Jewels53;9624370]Is he Scared!
[/QUOTE]

I hope the jury will see the planning that went into the murder of Tera and find the ba$tard guilty of premeditated murder.

I also hope that the guilty verdict gives Tera's parents more clout when they try to get involved in the lives of their daughter's two kids and demand their rights. (if they have any in NM?)
 
Good Morning Everybody!
CJ, I hope you are feeling better this morning. I'm interested in seeing who this witness is this morning who is flying in and will testify most of the morning and perhaps into the early afternoon. I hope somehow the prosecution can turn her/him around.

Good Morning everyone... I feel better, thank you, thank you East. Thanks for posting the article about the attorney. Incredible and scary and all the victims of the APD could form a support group. So very sad. I am so curious too about this witness "that is flying in".

Kali thank you for the post about the Eraser Killer. I must read that book, I have heard others refer to it and talk about it. Yes he was just feeling sorry for himself. As always I hope today is good for the state.
 

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