New trial continues for man charged with murder

• Boone was shot to death Jan. 18, 2014, after being lured out of his Flora Vista home.
• Tiki Marez also was charged with first-degree murder in the case on Oct. 27, 2015.
• A trial of Burrows earlier this month was declared a mistrial by the judge.

AZTEC — The murder trial of a man accused in the death of a Flora Vista man wrapped up its second day today with a police detective testifying that a DNA sample taken from the defendant did not match DNA evidence found at the crime scene.

Kenneth Burrows has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Daniel Boone, who was shot to death Jan. 18, 2014, after being lured out of his Flora Vista home, according to court documents.

Tim Nyce, a San Juan County Sheriff's Office deputy who investigated the death of Boone as a detective, was questioned this afternoon about his involvement in the investigation by Keith Mandelski, an assistant district attorney for San Juan County. Mandelski introduced several pieces of evidence that were collected during the execution of search warrants.

Some of the pieces of evidence include bootprints and tireprints from the crime scene, a pair of black boots and loose rounds of 9mm ammunition.

Most of Mandelski's questions regarded the procedure of collecting the evidence and how helpful the items were to the investigation.

While being cross-examined by Christian Hatfield, one of Burrows' attorneys, Nyce said a sample of Burrows' DNA was sent to a crime lab in Santa Fe, and it did not match any of the DNA evidence found at the crime scene.

The trial began Wednesday after a judge declared a trial earlier this month a mistrial.

A jury trial was first convened on March 1 to hear Burrows' case. A mistrial was declared by Judge Bradford Dalley on March 3, according to court documents. Dalley wrote in the order issued on Monday that there were repeated violations of a pretrial order excluding the introduction of "prior bad acts."

Court documents show there were three instances of improper testimony given by witnesses about prior acts of Burrows. One of the instances violated a pretrial order barring the plaintiff, the state of New Mexico, from introducing evidence about Burrows from a prior incident, according to court documents.

Hatfield said during a recess today that there was an inadvertent reference to material that was excluded from the hearing, and that led to the judge's decision.

Burrows and Tiki Marez were charged on Oct. 27, 2015, in Aztec Magistrate Court with first-degree murder after being accused of being involved in the Boone's death.

The charges against Burrows and Marez are being handled in separate cases. Burrows pleaded not guilty to the murder charge on Jan. 9 in district court, according to court documents.

The new trial is scheduled to continue Friday and run through Tuesday.

Joshua Kellogg covers crime, courts and social issues for The Daily Times. He can be reached at 505-564-4627.