The New Mexico Supreme Court has ruled that a teenage girl's bodycam confession about discarding her newborn baby in a hospital trash can is inadmissible in her murder trial. The court unanimously decided that statements made by Alexee Trevizo, then 19, while in police presence at the hospital in 2023 are protected under doctor-patient confidentiality.
"I’m sorry, it came out of me. I didn’t know what to do. I was scared," Trevizo can be heard saying in the footage. She also stated, "it was not crying or nothing."
The state's highest court upheld a lower court's decision that surveillance footage and police body camera video of Trevizo at the hospital cannot be used as evidence. Prosecutors had argued that Trevizo's statements, made in front of police but not directly to an officer, should be admissible because she had not yet been read her Miranda rights. However, the court found that Trevizo was in a "compromised medical condition" and was not given the opportunity to prevent others from being present when medical information was disclosed.
"Despite her unresolved medical crisis, Dr. [Heather] 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," the court stated in its opinion, written by Justice Michael E. Vigil.
Trevizo was charged with first-degree murder in May 2023, after her newborn baby was discovered dead in a hospital trash bin. The New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator later determined the newborn died by homicide.
The incident occurred on January 27, 2023, when Trevizo presented to Artesia General Hospital complaining of severe back pain. She had concealed her pregnancy from her mother and medical staff, even as she was in labor. Security footage shows Trevizo running to a bathroom, and after she emerged, a custodian discovered the baby boy in the trash. Doctors initially believed the blood found in the bathroom was from an attempted termination.
Following her arrest, Trevizo was released and allowed to finish the school year. She attended her prom and was slated to walk in her high school graduation, though the school ultimately asked her not to attend. She was also permitted to attend New Mexico State University, where a petition with over 30,000 signatures demanded her expulsion from campus. It remains unclear if she is still enrolled.
A trial date had been set for August 26, 2024, but was postponed due to the ongoing legal challenges regarding the admissibility of Trevizo's statements and hospital footage.