ESPAÑOLA, N.M. — A plea deal has been reached in the case of a man accused of a shooting last year at a protest over a Juan de Oñate statue.

Ryan Martinez pleaded no contest Monday to aggravated battery and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. A judge subsequently sentenced him to 9.5 years, which includes a firearm enhancement. Martinez will serve a minimum of four years as a result of his plea to a serious violent offense.

The state agreed to dismiss a possible hate crime enhancement as a part of the plea deal.

The court scheduled jury selection to begin Monday for Martinez’s trial. Prosecutors accused him of shooting and wounding Jacob Johns at a protest last September in Española.

One group was celebrating the postponement of the rededication of the Oñate statue. A smaller group stood by, arguing that officials were ignoring their culture and history. For the most part, they stayed separate, until one individual jumped a wall and ran toward the protesters.

Video showed the Oñate protesters trying to tackle the man as he ran toward the group. The video showed protesters ripping off his “Make America Great Again” hat as he jumped back over the wall. Then, the video showed that man firing one shot that hit a protester.

Medics arrived about 10 minutes later and took the shooting victim to the hospital. 

Witnesses said the man drove away in a white Tesla. They identified him as 23-year-old Ryan Martinez. They also described him as a known online troll who often riled up crowds at protests. New Mexico State Police arrested him later that day and confirmed it was Martinez.

A judge ruled to keep Martinez in jail until his trial.

KOB 4 received a statement Monday from Jacob Johns about the plea deal, saying:

“This was a hate crime. This is a continuation of colonial violence. Unfortunately, this criminal process is reflective of the systemic white supremacy that Indigenous peoples face. The shooter motivated by hatred got 9.5 years, but will actually be in prison for half that time. Just imagine if I shot a person at a MAGA rally or a Christian prayer service I’d be put away for life. And all we were doing was having a peaceful sunrise ceremony – we went there to pray and our prayers were answered because the Oñate statue still does not stand.

We live in a sick society where a man with a MAGA hat would come with a loaded gun and commit political and racial violence; though the police were on notice of that violence they weren’t there to protect us.

The lifelong scars and injuries, loss of an internal organ, mental anguish and trauma will be with me forever – and in a couple of years Martinez will live free.

I don’t want to end with the anger I feel inside. I want to express that Indigenous prayers and lifeways work. Pueblo people will always stand together and maintain a continuity of resistance to white supremacy and the destruction of the Earth.”