SWELLING FIRE LINES

Guilty Verdict Jury convicts teen who shot Santa Fe basketball standout Fedonta “JB” White on first-degree murder, other charges

BY GRANT CRAWFORD grant@sfreporter.com

ASanta Fe County jury has found Estevan Montoya guilty of first-degree murder, ending a two-week trial for Montoya, who was 16 when he shot and killed local basketball standout Fedonta “JB” White at a high school party in August of 2020.

After hearing testimony from dozens of witnesses, including partygoers who saw Montoya fire the gun, investigators and pathology experts, the jury deliberated for roughly four hours on Tuesday. The panel convicted Montoya on all four charges— first-degree murder, tampering with evidence, unlawful carrying of a handgun by a person under age 19 and negligent use of a deadly weapon.

The verdict brings an end to the high-profile case involving a minor, charged as an adult, and one of the brightest hoops prospects to come out of Santa Fe in a generation. White, who garnered the attention of scouts from some of the biggest basketball programs in the country before he decided to graduate from Santa Fe High School early and play for the University of New Mexico Lobos, was 18 when he died.

Montoya is facing up to life in prison, with the possibility of parole after 30 years. State District Court Judge T. Glenn Ellington has not yet set a sentencing date.

Jude Voss, the grandmother who raised White, was emotional outside the courthouse after the judge read the verdict.

“I’m very, very grateful for, just finally, justice and just very happy that the truth came out,” Voss said. “I knew that my son wasn’t an aggressive, mean person. I had to live the last year and a half just worried that we weren’t going to get justice.”

White’s family has since started the JB White Foundation in an effort to bring awareness to “senseless gun violence.”

“We’re all very relieved and all very happy that Estevan is put away and hopefully this will make him become a better person,” said Chantel Esquibel, White’s sister. “I do feel like justice was served, but, of course, no amount of justice can ever bring June Bug back.”

For more than a year, Montoya and his attorneys have argued that he shot White in self defense at the home in Chupadero, where an estimated 50 to 150 youths showed up for what was supposed to be an ordinary high school party—unsupervised and with alcohol. The trial reached a climax Monday when Montoya took the stand, speaking publicly for the first time since he was arrested just hours after the shooting.

His version of the incident remained the same: He was running away from White and, in fear for his safety, shot White once with a .380 caliber pistol. He stayed consistent when testifying to the jury Monday.

“The only option I had was the gun,” Montoya said.

The trial featured testimony about the various arguments that broke out the night White died, including an altercation outside the home between two of Montoya’s friends. Multiple witnesses said White told the group involved in a drunken quarrel to shut one of the teenagers up, at which point Montoya confronted White.

Several accounts from those at the party point to Montoya as the aggressor, but the now-18-year-old testified that he was instead trying to de-escalate the situation

As arguments erupted at the alcohol-fueled party, Montoya testified that he told White to “mind your own business.”

“He didn’t even let me finish what I was saying when he was already lunging off the porch, throwing [a] power punch,” Montoya said. “I remember when he threw the punch…I could feel, I could see the strength, the force, his speed that he had.”

Montoya said he was scared, so he took off running and could feel White closing in. With nowhere to go, he testified, he took the gun out of his waistband and fired one shot around his shoulder. He then hopped a fence, ran down the driveway and fired one more shot into the air, he claims, because he thought he was still being chased.

At 6 feet, 4 inches, White’s stature and physical condition emerged as a focus of the defense throughout the trial. Chief Deputy District Attorney Blake Nichols in his closing argument told jurors he was tired of hearing Montoya’s attorneys “make this case about JB White.”

“Let’s assume…that JB was swinging. Who cares? It doesn’t give this man the right to murder,” Nichols said, pointing at Montoya.

The state had to prove that the killing was willful, deliberate and premeditated; or that Montoya was acting under a depraved mind with no regard for human life. Nichols showed the jury a photograph of the scene that had stickers on it, placed by witnesses, indicating where the crowd of people was standing when Montoya fired the gun—they surrounded the location where White fell to the ground.

“If you want to talk about outrageously reckless conduct, indicating a depraved mind and lack of concern for other people’s lives, it’s right here, folks,” Nichols said. “Any one of these young people could have been killed. It would not have made it any less tragic and it wouldn’t have made him any less guilty.”

GRANT CRAWFORD

Estevan Montoya reacts to his first-degree murder conviction after the jury is dismissed from the courtroom on Tuesday.