Eddie Joe Valdez faces up to 17 years in prison after jurors found him guilty of shooting Derrick Whitehead in the head and leaving him on a dirt road.

Organ Mountain News report

LAS CRUCES - A Doña Ana County jury convicted Eddie Joe Valdez of attempted first-degree murder and tampering with evidence Thursday in connection with a February 2024 shooting that left another man with severe, permanent brain injuries.

The verdict followed a trial in Third Judicial District Court involving the Feb. 26, 2024, shooting of Derrick Whitehead, according to the Third Judicial District Attorney's Office.

Prosecutors said Valdez drove Whitehead to a developing residential area south of Peter Hurd Road, where he beat him, shot him in the head with a small-caliber firearm and left him on a dirt road. Valdez subsequently took steps to conceal evidence of the attack.

Construction workers discovered Whitehead the following morning, unconscious and in critical condition. Doña Ana County Sheriff's Office deputies rendered aid before Whitehead was transported to University Medical Center in El Paso for emergency neurosurgery.

Whitehead survived but sustained severe brain injuries requiring prolonged rehabilitation.

During the trial, prosecutors presented digital surveillance records, physical evidence recovered from the scene and testimony establishing that Valdez drove Whitehead to the isolated location and later admitted shooting him.

"This verdict reflects the careful attention of the jury and a thorough presentation of the evidence in court," District Attorney Fernando Macías said in a statement. "Mr. Whitehead suffered catastrophic, permanent injuries from an act of extreme violence in our community."

Macías credited prosecutors Tomas Medina and Anne Swank and investigators with the Doña Ana County Sheriff's Office for their work on the case.

"Presenting a case built on complex digital timelines, medical findings and witness testimony requires piecing together every available detail for the jury," Medina and Swank said in a joint statement.

Valdez faces up to 17 years

Valdez faces up to 17 years in prison, according to the District Attorney's Office. That includes a nine-year basic sentence for attempted first-degree murder, a three-year basic sentence for tampering with evidence and a mandatory five-year firearm enhancement.

A sentencing hearing before District Judge Douglas R. Driggers has not yet been scheduled.