Man accused in shooting out on bond

PORTALES — Angel Loya, accused of shooting Dylan McKay dead last month in Portales, was approved Wednesday for release on bond under house arrest with an ankle monitor, among other conditions.

Loya, 22, pleaded not guilty at the hearing to the second-degree murder charge on which he was indicted last week. He was arrested April 27 on an open count of murder and has remained in custody since then.

Judge Donna Mowrer approved a $50,000 cash or surety bond, for which Loya is eligible only after procuring and financing an electronic monitoring system. He will be required to live at home with his parents, maintain his job at a local dairy and avoid any form of contact with witnesses or family of the victim, 24-year old McKay.

Portales Police Detective Nate Hyde testified in the hearing Wednesday that McKay and Loya had recently been dating each others’ ex-girlfriends and had previously exchanged threats of violence.

Loya told police he shot McKay when the latter breached an apartment where he and his girlfriend were staying together April 27, Hyde testified, but said Loya’s statements were inconsistent across interviews immediately following the incident and with subsequent crime scene analysis.

A report from the Office of the Medical Investigator indicated McKay died from a gunshot wound that entered his back right shoulder, traversed his internal organs and stopped at his left hip — consistent with a victim shot while leaning forward, as if falling, Hyde said.

McKay was not found in possession of any deadly weapons, he added.

Deputy District Attorney Jake Boazman said the second-degree murder indictment was “not surprising,” as the charge concerns “deliberate or intentional killing without sufficient provocation.”

Mowrer said the state proved Loya’s dangerousness, but not that the danger couldn’t be mitigated.

“The court’s hands are tied and consumed by the statute,” Mowrer told the courtroom, which included about a dozen people seated in the audience for Loya and about two dozen more from McKay’s friends and family.

Some of those present for McKay wept when Mowrer announced the state did not adequately prove that no conditions of release for Loya would guarantee the safety of the community.

“Obviously, the state respectfully disagrees with the judge’s decision,” Boazman told The News. “We felt we had met our burden to establish that (Loya) should be held in detention.”

Gary Mitchell proposed some of the release conditions for his client Loya, noting “this is a very intense case, because of the families, but there are ways.”

Loya is not to leave his house (or Roosevelt County) but for work or pre-approved visits to medical appointments or with his attorney.

“Frankly, just don’t be out. It just creates problems,” Mitchell said, later telling The News that “at least it’s better than being in jail.”

Loya will next be scheduled for a pre-trial conference in July, Boazman said.

Mitchell said “we believe (Loya) has a great defense” and that he was “proud to present his case to the jury.”