Jan. 31—Sara Enriquez’s voice shook, but she did not cry as she turned to the woman who shot and killed her cousin more than four years ago.

She simply wished her “peace” during an emotional plea hearing Wednesday in a Santa Fe courtroom.

The family of 19-year-old Rodrigo Enriquez-Garay, a Santa Fe man shot and killed by Beverly Melendez in 2019, had suffered enough trauma through every hearing and docket call in the winding case since it began, Enriquez said.

The family, she added, was ready for for the nightmare to be over.

“We believe her taking responsibility for her actions … will provide us a closure that we have not been able to obtain in the last four years,” Enriquez said.

Melendez, 68, was convicted of second-degree murder in 2021, but her conviction was overturned by the state Court of Appeals, which found the district court erred in allowing prosecutors during the trial to present statements Melendez made to police on the night of the incident after she had requested an attorney.

In lieu of a second trial in the case, Melendez opted to accept a plea deal from prosecutors Wednesday that suspended 10 years of a 15-year sentence and gave her five years of probation. Enriquez said the victim’s family agreed with the plea deal, which would allow her to be released in less than eight months.

Melendez in September 2019 fired a shotgun over her backyard fence into a crowd next door, killing the teen. Prosecutors — and Melendez herself — had said alcoholism was a major factor in the incident.

Enriquez said her cousin’s potential was “stolen from him,” forcing his family to move on with their lives, though they have been crushed by his death.

At one point during her statement Enriquez told Melendez: “We do not agree that there will ever be punishment enough for your crime — the life of Rodrigo Enriquez-Garay is worth more than anything you have suffered through in these last four years. However, my family hopes that you find peace in this new sentence, and that his death was not in vain and teaches you something that will serve you in your future. We wish you the best.”

District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer called Enriquez’s words “one of the most special statements” she had ever heard, noting the victim’s family’s willingness to forgive Melendez.

The plea deal requires Melendez to complete a treatment program for alcoholism as well as 100 hours of community service.

Marlowe Sommer asked for a statement from Melendez, who turned to face Enriquez-Garay’s family and expressed her remorse for the killing.

“I would like to thank the family for their sincerity,” Melendez said. “Thank you, and I’m sorry for the entire episode.”

Attorneys from both the prosecution and defense said the plea deal gave Melendez a chance for rehabilitation and presented a better option for both sides than the prospect of going through another trial.

However, Deputy District Attorney Anthony Long told the court he was “disappointed” in the work of prosecuting attorneys in the appellate court for failing to give the case “meaningful review” at that stage.

The Public Defender’s Office had appealed Melendez’s first conviction, arguing the court erred in denying Melendez’s motion to suppress statements she had made to a Santa Fe police officer who pressed her for answers after she’d asked for an attorney. The Court of Appeals agreed.

Long said in an interview after the hearing Wednesday appellate prosecuting attorneys had “conceded the issue” at that stage instead of arguing for the case.

“The preference would be to actually have the appellate attorneys argue about these things and decide whether anything else was wrong in that first trial,” Long said. “But, essentially, we didn’t get that.”

Putting the case to a second trial, Long said, would force Enriquez-Garay’s surviving family to endure the “traumatic experience” of the first trial all over again.

Attorney Jennifer Burrill, who represented Melendez, said the state’s case against Melendez could have been weakened by the outcome in appellate court, since prosecutors would no longer be able to present the statements she made to police the night of the incident.

Still, Burrill said, going to trial is “always risky.” In doing so, Melendez could have risked receiving a longer sentence.

“This gives her the opportunity to get out in seven-plus months,” Burrill said. “Both parties thought this was the best, most reasonable outcome.”