The New Mexico Supreme Court has overturned the conviction of Seig Isaac Chavez, a Las Vegas man who had been sentenced for the brutal 2019 murder of 71-year-old William Smith, a disabled elderly man. Chavez was originally found guilty of first-degree murder and tampering with evidence by a jury in 2022. Smith’s body was discovered in August 2019, bearing 24 stab wounds. Chavez’s conviction was overturned due to the improper admission of key evidence during his trial.
According to court records, a witness saw Smith getting into Chavez’s truck on the night of the murder, and investigators later found Smith’s blood inside Chavez’s vehicle as well as on his jacket. This evidence was used to build the prosecution’s case against Chavez, tying him directly to the crime.
During the trial, prosecutors introduced a jailhouse phone call between Chavez and his teenage son. This call, however, became the center of the New Mexico Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the conviction. The court found that the audio recording of the conversation should not have been admitted as evidence. In its opinion, the court noted that the call “significantly affected the verdicts.”
In the phone call, Chavez instructed his son that he was now the “man of the house” and had the responsibility to protect the family. He gave disturbing instructions, telling his son to stab anyone who got close to him or attempted to harm him, particularly instructing him to aim for the throat. Chavez also expressed his own belief that he would soon be imprisoned, saying, “Daddy’s going to prison,” as outlined in the Supreme Court’s decision.
The key issue, as the court pointed out, was that the phone call was not directly related to the murder of Smith but instead revealed Chavez’s propensity for violence. This evidence was deemed “highly inflammatory” by the justices and prejudiced the jury against Chavez. “The district court committed plain error by allowing the jury to hear evidence that was relevant only to Defendant’s propensity for violence. This evidence was highly inflammatory and deprived Defendant of a fair trial,” Justice C. Shannon Bacon wrote in the opinion.
The court’s decision to overturn the conviction hinged on the improper admission of this inflammatory evidence. The justices ruled that this error deprived Chavez of his right to a fair trial, leading to the decision to vacate his conviction.
Despite the overturned conviction, the court ruled that Chavez could be retried for the murder. This means the state has the option to pursue the case again, but without the tainted evidence that led to the initial conviction.
Insane.
Evidence that a person is violent shouldn’t be admitted to a murder trial?
Particularly when it describes the method used to commit the homicide?
Is this why it’s nearly impossible to convict violent offenders? We have clowns like this “judge” throwing out verdicts because the jury was convinced by the evidence that the person did the crime!??! Isn’t it the prosecutions job to detail every piece of evidence in a case in an effort to sway the jury’s opinion!?! I guess this “judge” didn’t like the direction the jury was swayed and therefore called the swaying “tainted”. Whatever it takes to keep more violent offenders on the street terrorizing people, “Justice” Bacon?
You must understand she is a founder of Emerge. That is an organization that promotes such violence. If you look it up and how many New Mexico judges are members none of these perverted findings will surprise you.
NM has a garbage judicial system. Filled with corrupt worthless, judges and corrupt, worthless prosecutors.
You are so right, my thoughts exactly as I was reading the article. He will kill again no doubt about that.
It is a total shame that our liberal judges will let out a man convicted of murder that had apparently solid blood evidence in the perps vehicle because his phone instructions to his son to stab people inflamed the jury. The jury was likely inflamed that he stabbed a senior man 24 times. How do these lib judges sleep at night?
They have no heart, conscience or morals. They are ungodly people, for their actions speak louder than words.
I agree with every comment posted here. What a disgrace!
And they wonder why New Mexico…especially northern New Mexico has the highest crime rate in the nation!!! Gee, we just can’t figure it out…..it’s a mystery.
If he had killed someone I loved and they released him, they would have me on trial next.p
But… Gov Blow Pig wants to Disarm Honest Law Abiding Hard Working People in her “Pursuit” of Public Safety…. It’s HER Judges and HER DA’s That are The REAL CRIMINALS. Crooked Cops, Lawyers, Judges And Politicians Are The #1 Threat To Public Safety….
Why is Chief Medina allowed to turn off his body camera 🤔