Gustin's Thief Pleads Out
...Lucero appeared to have plucked clean sections of his dark, shortly cropped hair....
Monday, April 3, 2023, 7th Judicial District Courthouse, Estancia, NM - In a mostly empty courtroom, Patrick Lucero’s fate was decided in fourteen minutes. Lucero is the defendant in two separate cases involving break-ins at Gustin’s Hardware in Mountainair. Public defender Thomas Rhinehart represented Lucero; Roy Sharbutt represented the state.
Lucero accepted a plea offer from the state, which included
- deferred prosecution (meaning that Lucero would not be prosecuted presently for the cases against him but would be in the future if he committed additional crimes);
- Restitution for the damage created by his crimes;
- No contact with Gustin’s Hardware Store;
- Mandatory drug treatment, either at an outpatient facility known as Darrins Place Behavioral Health or the New Mexico Department of Corrections’ inpatient facility known as the Mens’ Recovery Academy; and,
- Court fees and costs.
Judge Shannon Murdock accepted Lucero’s plea following a standard questioning of whether Lucero understood his decision and was of sound mind to choose the plea agreement. Lucero was soft spoken during this and his admission of the facts in the case against him (referred to as his “proffer.”) Lucero appeared to have plucked clean sections of his dark, shortly cropped hair, a practice known as trichotillomania that is often triggered by opioid withdrawal or underlying psychological conditions.