The New Mexico Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that prosecutors cannot use hospital body camera footage or a taped confession in the murder trial of Alexee Trevizo.
The justices upheld a Fifth Judicial District Court decision finding that all statements Trevizo made in her hospital room in front of police are protected by doctor-patient confidentiality. The ruling also bars prosecutors from introducing hospital surveillance video and police body camera footage captured at the facility.
The decision forces the district attorney’s office to rebuild its case without key evidence previously used to charge the high school senior with first-degree murder.
Trevizo arrived at Artesia General Hospital in the early morning hours of Jan. 27, 2023, complaining of severe back pain. Staff began running tests and administered morphine. Trevizo then left her room to use the bathroom. After she returned to her bed, a hospital cleaning worker noticed a trash bag in the restroom felt unusually heavy, looked inside, and found the body of a newborn baby.
Hospital staff called police, as required by law. At least one arriving officer recorded a conversation inside Trevizo’s room involving Trevizo, her mother, a charge nurse, and her physician, Dr. Heather Vaskas.
After Vaskas informed the family that staff had discovered a dead baby in the bathroom, Trevizo responded on camera, “I’m sorry, it came out of me; I didn’t know what to do.”
When her mother asked about the baby, Trevizo said “nothing was crying.” Asked directly where she put the infant, Trevizo confirmed she placed the baby inside the trash bag.
In the court’s opinion, Justice Michael E. Vigil wrote that Trevizo’s physician-patient privilege was breached when her doctor brought officers into the room.
“Despite her unresolved medical crisis, Dr. Vaskas, without authorization, ambushed Defendant, bringing with her two armed officers who stood in the doorway of her hospital room, and disclosed her personal medical information to all persons in the room without warning,” Vigil wrote.
The court stated that because Trevizo was in a “compromised medical condition” and “not given the opportunity to exclude anyone from the room before Dr. Vaskas discussed her condition in the presence of others,” the justices “cannot conclude that Defendant’s waiver of her physician-patient privilege was voluntary.”
Prosecutors had argued that Miranda warnings were unnecessary at the time because Trevizo spoke in the presence of law enforcement rather than directly answering police questioning. The high court rejected that argument.
Trevizo has maintained that the infant was stillborn. An autopsy later showed air in the baby’s lungs and evidence of hemorrhaging consistent with hypoxia, leading to her arrest on May 10, 2023.
Trevizo was released on bail while awaiting trial. Prosecutors have not yet announced their next steps following the high court’s ruling.
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