The New Mexico Supreme Court has ruled that body camera footage capturing Alexee Trevizo's confession to hiding her newborn baby in a hospital trash can is inadmissible in her murder case. The unanimous decision, made by the state's high court, cited doctor-patient confidentiality as the reason for excluding statements made by Trevizo while in a hospital room with medical staff and police present.
Alexee Trevizo, who was 19 at the time of her arrest in 2023, was charged with first-degree murder and tampering with evidence. The incident occurred on Jan. 27, 2023, when Trevizo sought treatment at Artesia General Hospital for severe back pain. Hospital staff, unaware of her pregnancy, began tests and administered morphine. Trevizo had repeatedly denied being pregnant before going to the hospital bathroom, where she gave birth. Hospital staff later discovered a large amount of blood in the bathroom.
While a janitor was cleaning the bathroom, they noticed the trash felt unusually heavy. Upon investigation, the newborn baby was found unresponsive in the trash bin, concealed within a tied plastic bag among bloody paper towels and other refuse. The New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator later determined the child died by homicide, with the autopsy indicating the infant died from entrapment after being placed in the bag. The report also suggested evidence of hypoxia.
Body camera footage showed hospital staff informing Trevizo and her mother that a dead newborn had been found in the trash. In the recording, Trevizo can be heard saying, "I’m sorry, it came out of me. I didn’t know what to do." She also stated, "I was scared," and claimed the child "was not crying or nothing." Trevizo has maintained that the baby was stillborn and that she did not realize she was pregnant until the birth.
The Fifth Judicial District Court had previously upheld the ruling that surveillance video from inside the hospital and body camera footage were not admissible. The Supreme Court affirmed this decision. The court's opinion, written by Justice Michael E. Vigil, stated that Trevizo was "ambushed" by her doctor and two officers without her consent to discuss her personal medical information. The justices concluded that Trevizo's waiver of her physician-patient privilege was not voluntary under these circumstances, especially given her "compromised medical condition."
Prosecutors had argued that Trevizo did not need to be read her Miranda rights because she was speaking to hospital staff, not directly to police. However, the court found that the circumstances surrounding the confession, particularly the presence of officers and the discussion of her medical condition without her explicit consent to disclose it to others in the room, rendered the confession inadmissible.
Following her arrest, Trevizo, now 22, was released and allowed to finish her senior year of high school. She reportedly attended prom and planned to participate in graduation, though the school ultimately asked her not to attend. She later enrolled at New Mexico State University, where a petition demanding her expulsion from campus garnered over 30,000 signatures.