SANTA FE – The New Mexico Supreme Court has ruled that defendants who cause deadly crashes while fleeing police can face felony murder charges under certain circumstances.
The court’s decision filed Monday came in the case of Elexus Groves and Paul Garcia, who were accused of stealing a van in 2017 and fleeing police at high speeds through residential neighborhoods. Groves ran a stop sign and crashed into another vehicle at 68 mph, killing a mother and her teenage daughter, authorities have said.
Groves and Garcia initially were charged with felony murder, a count used when a person is killed during the commission of certain felony crimes.
The question before the high court was whether aggravated fleeing a law enforcement officer was one of the crimes the state can use as a predicate for felony murder.
A district court judge dismissed the murder charges during pretrial proceedings, ruling that aggravated fleeing a law enforcement officer cannot serve as the underlying offense for felony murder. Prosecutors appealed.
The state Supreme Court court concluded that aggravated fleeing a police officer can provide the basis for felony murder prosecutions if evidence shows defendants had the criminal intent required under the law.
The Supreme Court has previously ruled that the only felonies that can elevate a killing to felony murder are those “independent of the felonious purpose to injure or kill.”
In Monday’s decision, the justices said the objective of an aggravated fleeing offense has an independent felonious purpose, which is to flee law enforcement to avoid apprehension.
Garcia’s lawyer, Nicholas Hart, had argued that aggravated fleeing did not have a felonious purpose independent of endangering the physical health of a victim.
Groves and Garcia’s case were put on hold pending the Supreme Court decision. It now will be up to the district court to reevaluate the case.
Felony murder is a killing that occurs in the commission of a felony or attempt to commit a felony. It’s treated as first-degree murder and is punishable by life in prison. Second-degree murder carries a basic sentence of 15 years.