In a significant ruling, the New Mexico Supreme Court has determined that prosecutors cannot use a teenager’s confession, captured via bodycam, after she abandoned her newborn in a hospital trash can. This decision is rooted in doctor-patient confidentiality laws, the court decided on Thursday.
The state’s top justices reached a unanimous decision to exclude any statements made by Alexee Trevizo, who was 19 at the time, from her 2023 trial. These comments were made in a hospital setting in the presence of police, but the court concluded that they are insulated by doctor-patient privilege, as reported by People.
The footage captures Trevizo expressing remorse, stating, “I’m sorry, it came out of me. I didn’t know what to do,” as she faced the situation’s aftermath.
In her recorded exchange with nursing staff, Trevizo admitted, “I was scared” and noted, “it was not crying or nothing,” referencing the newborn.
The highest court in New Mexico also confirmed the protections from the Fifth Judicial District Court, ruling that all surveillance and police bodycam recordings involving Trevizo within the hospital are inadmissible in court due to doctor-patient confidentiality, according to the outlet.
Prosecutors previously argued that any conversations between Trevizo, her mother and medical staff that happened in front of police in her hospital room should be allowed at trial.
Police had not yet read Trevizo her Miranda rights prior to those conversations — but prosecutors tried to argue that the teen had made the comments in front of police, not directly to an officer and therefore she did not need to be Mirandized.
The high school cheerleader was also receiving medical treatment when the cops entered her hospital room wearing bodycams.
“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 an opinion written by Justice Michael E. Vigil.
The opinion added that because Trevizo was “not given the opportunity to exclude anyone from the room before Dr. Vaskas discussed her condition in the presence of others,” and was in a “compromised medical condition,” the court “cannot conclude that Defendant’s waiver of her physician-patient privilege was voluntary.”
The now-22-year-old was charged with first-degree murder on May 10, 2023, after her newborn baby was found dead in a hospital trash bin.
Months earlier, on Jan. 27, Trevizo went to the Artesia General Hospital complaining of severe back pain, and hiding her pregnancy from her mother and doctors even as she was actively in labor.
Trevizo is seen in security footage running out of her hospital room toward a hallway bathroom while clutching her bum.
Her mother followed Trevizo toward the bathroom and knocked multiple times but was not allowed in and waited with nurses for around 20 minutes.
Before a nurse was able to unlock the door, Trevizo opened the bathroom door and was found cleaning up a heavy amount of blood on the floor.
Doctors originally thought the bloody mess was from the teen attempting to terminate her pregnancy.
But a custodian sent to clean up the bathroom discovered a newborn baby boy inside the trash that was no longer breathing.
The New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator later determined the newborn died by homicide.
While Trevizo maintained the baby was stillborn, the district attorney’s office filed charges against Trevizo based on her confession as well as video taken from hospital security cameras that showed the teen coming and going from the bathroom where the newborn was discovered.
Following her arrest, Trevizo was released from jail and permitted to finish the school year without an ankle monitor or house arrest while waiting for trial.
She attended prom and had planned to walk in her high school graduation while awaiting trial, but the school ultimately asked that she not attend the ceremony.
Trevizo was allowed to attend New Mexico State University, where at one point, students launched a petition that amassed over 30,000 signatures demanding she be banned from campus.
It is unclear whether Trevizo is still enrolled at NMSU.
Trevizo’s long-awaited trial has experienced a number of delays as prosecutors continue to fight for the right to use the footage and confessions in court.