CARLSBAD, N.M. (Court TV) — A New Mexico teen charged with murdering her newborn and leaving it in a hospital trashcan has won a battle to keep some evidence out of court but is still fighting to have her trial moved.
Alexee Trevizo, seen here in a booking photo, is charged with murder in the death of her infant son. (Eddy County Detention Center)
Alexee Trevizo is charged with the first-degree murder of her son, who was delivered in the bathroom of a hospital on Jan. 27, 2023, when she was 19 years old. Court TV obtained the coroner’s report for the infant, which determined he died on the day he was born from entrapment after he was sealed in a plastic bag inside a garbage can in the hospital’s bathroom.
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Both sides agree that Trevizo arrived at Artesia General Hospital’s emergency room complaining of back pain. After she was admitted to the hospital, she said she needed to use the bathroom. The infant was found, after it had died, in the trashcan inside the bathroom Trevizo used.
While prosecutors and the coroner say that the child was born healthy and was killed by its mother, Trevizo’s defense has argued that the hospital’s negligence led to the infant’s death. In a toxicology report reviewed by Court TV , tests showed that the infant had 19ng/ml of morphine in its system when it died. Trevizo’s attorney said that the hospital gave her morphine in an IV when she was admitted and didn’t tell her she was pregnant.
Trevizo’s attorney, Gary Mitchell, has filed a lawsuit against the hospital for the wrongful death of the infant, saying that it was negligent for the hospital to administer morphine to a woman of childbearing age without first confirming whether she was pregnant. The lawsuit also alleges that the hospital knew about the positive pregnancy test for more than an hour before telling Trevizo.
Another issue in the lawsuit and the criminal case is privacy: an appeals court upheld a ruling that bars prosecutors from introducing body camera video of police talking to Trevizo in her hospital room, as well as the contents of those interviews. The court found that not only was Trevizo not advised of her Miranda rights at the time, but she was also protected by medical privacy laws known as HIPAA, which protect conversations between doctors and patients. Prosecutors have appealed the court’s decision, arguing that privacy laws “do not preclude medical providers from disclosing information to law enforcement regarding a crime.” In its appeal, prosecutors also argued the presence of Trevizo’s mother in the room negated any expectation of privacy.
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Mitchell has asked a judge to move the upcoming trial, arguing that the intense media attention surrounding the case will prevent a fair trial. In the motion, he warned that he expects the trial itself to take at least six weeks, not including jury selection. He said, “Voir dire, if done properly, will take weeks in order to ferret out those jurors who have an agenda fostered by social media.”
Prosecutors say any media attention has been the result of Mitchell’s own efforts, noting, “To date, no one from the State has made a statement to the media about this case. … To the extent that there has been any editorialized reporting, the bulk relates to articles generated by public statements made by the defense, not the state.”
Trevizo remains free on bond pending the trial. Mitchell told Court TV’s Vinnie Politan on July 25 that she has attended one year of college and is hoping to continue her studies in the fall.
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