A Bernalillo County grand jury last week indicted the man accused of nearly beating a teenager to death in 2008.
Justin Hansen, now 33, is charged with attempted murder, kidnapping, child abuse and other counts in connection to an attack on then-Cibola High School senior Brittani Marcell.
In 2010, prosecutors took the unusual step of indicting the case long before they suspected Hansen was involved. That indictment used the name John Doe and identified the suspect using only a DNA profile recovered at Marcell’s home. They also issued a warrant at that time to arrest the person who matched that DNA profile, should that person ever be located.
Now that police say that DNA belongs to Hansen, prosecutors added the new indictment to the existing 2010 case file, this time identifying Hansen as the source of the DNA.
A judge denied the state’s request to hold Hansen without bond. He ordered GPS monitoring and required Hansen to provide the court with the name and address of a person who will supervise him at all times. Hansen was released from custody when those conditions were met on July 18, according to a detention center spokeswoman.
Hansen, who was then 24, is accused of breaking into Marcell’s home and beating her with a shovel. The attack left her blind in one eye and deaf in one ear.
