New Mexico Supreme Court considers police, physician actions in newborn death case

With their lapel cameras rolling, Artesia police stood inside Alexee Trevizo’s hospital room as an emergency department doctor informed her of the discovery of a dead newborn in a restroom trash bin down the hall.

Trevizo’s response, “I’m sorry — it came out of me — I didn’t know what to do,” became key evidence for prosecutors. In May 2023, they filed first-degree murder charges against the then-19-year-old high school senior, who faces life in prison if convicted.

The tragic case made international headlines, while the 5th Judicial District Attorney’s Office contended she should be jailed pending trial because she was a danger to the community. Hospital and police video showing her in a hospital gown spread through social media, with her case attracting more than 1 million hits on a Google search. Thousands signed a petition to try to keep her from attending New Mexico State University after she graduated.

But before a criminal trial could occur, a state district judge in Eddy County last year suppressed all the statements she made in the presence of police and medical staff. Trevizo wasn’t given a required Miranda warning, the judge concluded, and her doctor acted as an agent of law enforcement and violated physician-patient privilege. Prosecutors then filed an appeal.

Now the state Supreme Court is considering whether the judge erred in ruling the statements are inadmissible at trial. Several organizations supporting Trevizo say the high court’s ruling has a broader impact.

“It’s the ramifications of this case that are extraordinary for Ms. Trevizo and for every vulnerable patient in New Mexico and for the state’s commitment to safe, confidential reproductive health care,” Trevizo’s attorney Amber Fayerberg told the justices at oral arguments Thursday in Santa Fe. She said upholding the suppression ruling will be important to “maintaining the line that separates medical care from police investigation.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, the National Police Accountability Project and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) submitted briefs to the Supreme Court in support of Trevizo’s motion to suppress.

Trevizo went with her mother to Artesia General Hospital Jan. 27, 2023, experiencing severe back pain and bleeding, unaware she was pregnant. Hours earlier, she had been at cheerleading practice, court records stated. After receiving IV fluids, including morphine, she asked to go to the bathroom. Hospital personnel did a pregnancy test, but didn’t inform her it came back positive.

She was allowed to escort herself to the bathroom, and spent 18 minutes undergoing what “clinical signs in the factual record indicate was likely precipitous labor,” defined as “extremely rapid labor defined as expulsion of the fetus within less than three hours of the commencement of regular contractions,” states a brief filed by Trevizo’s legal team.

She returned to her room, leaving a large amount of blood in the restroom, but didn’t tell anyone what had happened. A custodian later found the newborn baby sealed in a trash bag under a new trash can liner. The baby was full-term, but was already cold and blue, according to prosecutors’ brief.

An autopsy showed the infant was born alive, although Trevizo’s defense lawyers contend otherwise.

“In Ms. Trevizo’s case, actions taken by law enforcement and her care team placed criminalization over care,” stated the ACOG brief. “Ms. Trevizo was not informed of her positive pregnancy test. The clinician then waited to speak to Ms. Trevizo until police arrived, only telling her about the discovery of the (deceased newborn) once in the presence of law enforcement. Her doctor then examined and questioned Ms. Trevizo in front of law enforcement while (she) was being detained in the immediate postpartum period.”

During oral arguments, attorney Michael Thomas, of the state Department of Justice, told the justices that a Miranda warning wasn’t necessary because police didn’t ask her any questions, and she wasn’t formally placed in custody.

Thomas, representing prosecutors, also argued that Trevizo had waived her physician-privilege. He said police later told Trevizo they would wait in the hallway to not add to her stress. Eventually, she was transferred via helicopter to a hospital in Roswell for further treatment.

The June 3, 2024, suppression ruling by state District Judge Jane Shuler Gray wasn’t publicly available in online records last week. The Supreme Court didn’t make an immediate ruling last week.

Meanwhile, as a trial date hasn’t been set, Trevizo’s attorneys have asked for a change of venue from Eddy County given the “immense publicity” of the case.

“Indeed,” the ACOG brief stated, “as a result of the intrusion of law enforcement into her hospital room, bodycam footage of these interactions is now readily available to the public through the internet and social media, with countless content creators and consumers picking apart and scrutinizing Ms. Trevizo’s words, actions and reactions in the most ruthless of terms.”

Trevizo is attending NMSU remotely after being released from custody pending trial.