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NEWS
Mistrial declared in double murder trial
Dakota Briscoe sentenced last year in federal court to 25 years in prison
Published
A judge declared a mistrial Wednesday in the trial of a 40-year-old man charged with fatally shooting two men in the South Valley and burning their bodies to conceal the crime in 2020.
Prosecutors plan to retry Dakota Briscoe on two counts of first-degree murder in the killings of Nathan Garcia, 39, and Eric Carbajal, 36, said Nancy Laflin, a spokeswoman for the 2nd Judicial District Attorney's Office.
Judge Clara Moran declared the mistrial on the third day of Briscoe's trial in 2nd Judicial District Court. Moran did not explain her reasons Wednesday for ordering the mistrial.
Briscoe will remain in custody pending resolution of the case. In January 2025, a federal judge sentenced Briscoe to 25 years in prison after he was convicted of federal charges in connection with the same incident.
Briscoe is accused of killing Carbajal and Garcia on Sept. 7, 2020, then torching an SUV with their bodies inside before trying to carjack two women at gunpoint, according to a criminal complaint filed in Bernalillo County Metro Court.
Briscoe then broke into a third woman's house, fired gunshots and stole her car in an effort to evade arrest.
Albuquerque police responded that day to reports of an attempted carjacking, a home invasion robbery, and a vehicle fire near Central and Atrisco.
Nine days after the killings, federal officials arrested Briscoe at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint north of Las Cruces while he posed as his brother and drove his brother's van, court records show.
He was convicted in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque of one count of carjacking, two counts of attempted carjacking, and possession and use of a firearm while committing a crime of violence.
