A New Mexico jury agreed with the prosecution that Isaac Apodaca manipulated his girlfriend, Kiara McCulley, to carry out a brutal slaying with a 3-foot sword of 21-year-old Grace Jennings in Santa Fe in 2022.
Guilty Verdict
After jurors heard closing arguments on Wednesday, they deliberated for about two hours before convicting Isaac Apodaca, 29, of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. His sentencing hearing is scheduled to take place in August, where he is expected to face life in prison.
Kiara McCulley was 19 years old at the time of the killing on October 28, 2022, and admitted to authorities that she fatally stabbed Jennings with the sword she bought on Amazon two days prior. She accepted a plea deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and conspiracy. In exchange for her testimony against her boyfriend, she will be sentenced to 30 years.
Trial Testimony
McCulley testified in the trial on Tuesday, supporting the prosecution’s arguments that her mental state was taken advantage of by Apodaca and she was coerced into killing the victim. A few pieces of evidence presented also put a nail in the defendant’s coffin, including text messages showing he plotted the murder with McCulley for hours beforehand.
Apodaca declined to take the stand in his six-day trial. But prosecutors did not hesitate to call upon several fact witnesses and an expert witness, including McCulley and her mother, who was the owner of the property where the victim was slain, and investigators and a forensic psychiatrist.
The argument that prosecutors had to make, and the defense had to challenge, was whether Apodaca was criminally culpable in the murder if he did not physically wield the sword that inflicted the fatal injuries.
Several text messages show Apodaca encouraging his girlfriend to carry out the killing, including one that read, “I am wanting you to kill her you have to end your suffering by ending her joy.” McCulley testified that he convinced her he was an angel and leader of a vigilante organization that kills “pedophiles and rapists.”
McCulley expressed a desire to belong to something and to have someone love her, and when Apodaca told her she could “level up” in the organization by killing Jennings, she felt it was the only option.
Isaac Apodaca Was The Architect
During the closing argument, Deputy District Attorney Haley Murphy referred to Apodaca as the “long-standing architect” of the murder, arguing that McCulley was fed “homicidal delusions” by convincing her that Jennings was the orchestrator of a gang rape that occurred years prior.
“Isaac Apodaca brought Grace Jennings to that apartment where he resided with his homicidal, delusional girlfriend,” Murphy said. “Isaac Apodaca repeatedly urged for that murder to happen, and he promised to be helpful in the charge of cleaning up.”
“He handed Kiara this order; he did not need to be present in the room for him to be guilty of first-degree murder,” she added.
Defense Team’s Closing Arguments
Defense attorneys counterargued the prosecution’s claims, stating that McCulley had “motive and rage” to kill the couple’s long-time friend and previous partner. “Ladies and gentlemen, this killing took place with so much rage, so much anger, so much passion by Miss McCulley,” defense attorney Jay Nair said during his closing argument.
Nair noted how the manner of the homicide was “up close and personal.”
“And how are we to believe that Isaac somehow coerced and controlled her to do this?”
He continued to mention that neither Apodaca’s fingerprints nor his DNA were found on the sword, according to the forensic analysis, even though McCulley alleged she handed it to him before she murdered the victim.
The defense team brought a wooden replica sword into the courthouse after District Judge T. Glenn Ellington approved its use as a prop. Nair held it while addressing the jurors to show how it was wielded and how personable the murder had been.
Jury Deliberations
On the jury instructions, it stated that Apodaca may be found guilty of first-degree murder if the state proved beyond a reasonable doubt that he “helped, encouraged or caused” the murder even though he “did not do the acts that constitute the crime.”
A lightning strike hit an electrical line, knocking out the power, just as the jury went in for deliberation. While the courthouse was cleared, the jurors remained sequestered and reached a verdict two hours later after using their cellphones nd flashlights to discuss the case.
The First Judicial District Attorney’s Office commended the jury’s verdict and said it “recognizes the profound and lasting impact of Grace Jennings’ death on her family and loved ones.”
