Trial underway for man accused of Yuma house party shooting
YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA) – The prosecution and defense presented opening arguments as the trial for the man accused of the Yuma house party shooting got underway Thursday.
Aden Arviso, 23, faces two counts of first-degree murder and four counts of aggravated assault in connection to the May 2023 house party shooting.
Danny Garcia, 19, and Ande Blackthunder, 20, were killed, and other minors were shot.
During opening statements, the state highlighted a six-second Snapchat video, with Deputy County Attorney Joshua Davis-Salsbury saying, “If you pause the video at the right time, you’re able to see he’s actually pointing his gun directly at those two victims at one point.”
However, Daniel Curiel, Arviso’s attorney, said there’s more to the story than the six-second video.
“Anyone who has ever walked in on their family, family member halfway through a movie knows the few seconds they caught a glimpse of is not the entire movie. We are here to show you the rest of it,” Curiel explained.
The prosecution said Arviso was one of three armed men who intentionally took part in the shooting.
“You don’t see him firing on the victim. But ten feet behind him, we would locate five, nine-millimeter casings,” Davis-Salsbury spoke.
The defense said Arviso was armed, but never fired his gun or intended to kill anyone.
“Innocent kids were shot, kids that were not threats. It was a terrible rate. A terrible night in Yuma, Arizona. But Aden did not join these people in acting recklessly. He had a gun. He took it out after this chaos broke out after the gunfire erupted, but chose not to use it. He did not start that fight, even tried to break it up,” Curiel expressed. “We will prove to you that Aiden is not responsible for those five casings.”
The other suspect in the shooting, Abraham Colin, 22, was sentenced to serve 20 years for the murder charge, and an additional ten years for the assault charge consecutively, after pleading guilty back in August to second-degree murder and aggravated assault charges.
The trial will resume Tuesday, October 6, and is expected to last about five weeks.
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