Federal prosecutors seek death penalty in Santa Fe homicide and carjacking

The U.S. Department of Justice wants to end the life of a 39-year-old accused of killing an elderly man outside a Santa Fe electronics store and stealing his vehicle last year.

Prosecutors on Wednesday filed an intent to seek the death penalty in the case against Zachary Babitz in the August 2024 death of 83-year-old Gordon Wilson.

Babitz, of Edgewood, is federally charged with carjacking resulting in death and using a firearm in a crime of violence and causing death, among other felonies.

It is the second case in New Mexico in which the U.S. Attorney’s Office has sought the death penalty since the Trump administration lifted the ban on federal executions in February. The last time federal prosecutors in the state sought the death penalty was in 2018.

“Attorney General (Pam) Bondi has authorized and directed the United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico to pursue capital punishment in this case,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico said in a news release sent Friday.

Babitz’s attorney did not respond to a call seeking comment, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office did not respond to questions.

The death of Wilson came amid an alleged crime spree by Babitz that included the robbery of an Albuquerque bank and an Arby’s in Las Cruces. It was Las Cruces police who arrested Babitz days after Wilson’s death and he was booked into the Doña Ana County Detention Center.

Babitz is in federal custody. His alleged accomplice, Jessie Dominguez, is charged with aiding and abetting.

On Aug. 6, 2024, Wilson pulled his Jeep Cherokee into the parking lot of a Best Buy store in Santa Fe, according to court records. Babitz approached Wilson and shot him during a scuffle.

Police said Babitz drove off in Wilson’s Jeep and officers found it abandoned outside an apartment in Albuquerque. Officers found Babitz’s shoes and a bullet believed to have been left by him at the apartment, but he had fled.

Days later, Babitz and Dominguez showed up to an Arby’s in Las Cruces and held the cashier at gunpoint, according to police. The pair then carjacked a woman outside and crashed the vehicle.

Las Cruces police arrested Babitz near the crash scene, and he was booked into the Doña Ana County jail.

In January, Babitz filed a civil complaint in 1st Judicial District Court against the Keefe Commissary Network, which provides inmate commissary at the facility. In the complaint, Babitz and an inmate serving a life sentence alleged price gouging by the company.

“For example, a Maruchan Ramen Noodle Soup, on average sold to non-incarcerated between 20-25 (cents), is priced at $1.25 at (the jail),” according to the complaint, which included screenshots of Ramen sold at Walmart.

Babitz and the other plaintiff in the case asked a judge to order an injunction to order Keefe to “lower canteen prices to something comparable to prices offered to non-incarcerated.”

That case, like the one in which prosecutors seek the death penalty, has been moved to federal court.