Judge halts trial involving woman's 2021 suicide

A judge threw out a case mid-trial Thursday after finding that the family of a 29-year-old woman who fatally shot herself in 2021 had not proven that Albuquerque police had a legal obligation to prevent her death.

The case involves the suicide of Tania Ortiz-Mejia, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot sometime after she interacted with Albuquerque Police Department officers at her Southeast Albuquerque apartment complex.

Ortiz-Mejia's family alleged in a 2023 lawsuit that Albuquerque officials could have prevented the woman's death if they had intervened more forcefully after family members reported seeing her pointing a gun at her head in her apartment.

State District Judge Lisa Chavez Ortega tossed the case and dismissed the jury four days into the 2nd Judicial District Court trial.

The trial raised questions about what actions police can take under state law to prevent a potential suicide by someone inside a residence.

Lawyers for the city argued Thursday that testimony offered by the family didn't prove that city officials had a duty under New Mexico law to prevent the woman's death and failed to do so.

"What the testimony of the witnesses revealed was a sad story of a woman's death by suicide," Natasha Martinez-Wesenberg, an attorney for the city, told the judge Thursday.

"Each (witness) testified that there is no law, and therefore no duty, to force entry into someone's private residence simply because they are barricaded alone, even with allegations of possession of a gun and suicidal ideation," Martinez-Wesenberg argued.

Nor did attorneys for the family show that police actions caused Ortiz-Mejia's death, she said.

Ortiz-Mejia, the mother of a then 4-year-old girl, was found dead in her apartment on Nov. 16, 2021, two days after her interaction with police. Attorneys did not say when she died.

Ortiz-Mejia had a history of mental illness and illegal drug use, including prior acts of self-harm and diagnoses for schizophrenia, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the lawsuit.

Attorneys for her family argued in opening statements that police remained outside Ortiz-Mejia's second-floor apartment and spoke with her twice by phone, but never asked to enter her apartment the evening of Nov. 14, 2021.

Elise Funke, an attorney for the family, told jurors Monday that police told Ortiz-Mejia that they would call her again later that evening but did not do so.

Funke also told jurors that a licensed clinical counselor with the APD’s Mobile Crisis Team on scene that evening issued a "certificate for evaluation" that authorized police to take Ortiz-Mejia into custody for a psychological evaluation but that police failed to exercise the certificate.

Martinez-Wesenberg told the judge Thursday that state law "allows," but doesn't require, police to detain and transport a person for an emergency mental health evaluation.

The law "certainly doesn't authorize a peace officer to force entry into Ms. Ortiz-Mejia's apartment to do so," she told the judge.

Olivier Uyttebrouck covers the court system. You can reach him at olivier@abqjournal.com.