New Mexico woman’s bodycam confession about hiding newborn baby in hospital garbage tossed by state court
The New Mexico Supreme Court has ruled that body camera footage in which a young woman confessed to hiding her newborn baby in a hospital bin cannot be used as evidence against her, after finding that the recording was protected by doctor-patient confidentiality. The decision is a significant setback for prosecutors pursuing a first-degree murder case and could shape how law enforcement and hospital staff handle sensitive medical situations involving police in future.
Alexee Trevizo was 19 when she was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and tampering with evidence in 2023, after hospital staff and police confronted her when a lifeless infant was discovered in a tied plastic bag in a hospital rubbish bin following her visit to the bathroom. Footage from officers' body cameras captured the moment she and her mother were told of the discovery, but the state's highest court has now excluded this material from the case, ruling it fell under confidentiality protections between a patient and medical providers.
- New Mexico court blocks bodycam confession evidence in newborn's death case
- Alexee Trevizo, 19, faces murder and evidence-tampering charges
- Court cites doctor-patient confidentiality in excluding the footage
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New Mexico's highest court has ruled that police cannot use a recorded confession as evidence in the case against Alexee Trevizo, a young woman charged after a newborn was found dead in a hospital bin in 2023. The court decided the footage was covered by the confidentiality that normally protects conversations between a patient and their medical carers, even though it was captured by police body cameras rather than recorded in a private medical file.
Trevizo was 19 at the time and faces charges of first-degree murder and tampering with evidence, after hospital staff alerted police when the infant was discovered in a tied plastic bag following her visit to a hospital bathroom. Body camera footage recorded officers informing her and her mother of the discovery, and it was this material, along with any admissions made in that moment, that prosecutors had hoped to use to build their case.
The ruling matters beyond this one case because it touches on how far patient confidentiality extends when police are present in a hospital setting, and how officers' body camera recordings should be treated when they capture sensitive medical conversations. It could influence how hospitals, police and prosecutors handle similar situations in future, and has significant implications for how the case against Trevizo can now proceed.