The New Mexico Supreme Court just overturned the first murder conviction of a woman in a case that likely never should have been charged in the first place. 

19-year-old Alexee Trevizo went to the hospital with severe back pain. She denied being pregnant, and hospital staff gave Trevizo pain medications, including intravenous morphine. Staff ran a pregnancy test that came back positive; Trevizo was never informed of this. At some point, Trevizo said she needed to use the bathroom and ended up giving birth to a baby. Trevizo then experienced heavy bleeding, and she was confronted by medical staff and police. She was then charged with first-degree murder and tampering with evidence.

During the confrontation with medical staff and police, Trevizo said she "didn't know what to do" with the baby, and her legal team moved to suppress her hospital statements.

A trial court granted that motion on the grounds that the joint police/physician interview violated Miranda as well as physician-patient privilege. The prosecution appealed, and the New Mexico Supreme Court affirmed what the trial court ruled: the hospital statements are inadmissible because of physician-patient privilege.

Here's more:

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A major development in the case of a newborn found dead in a hospital trash can. The state supreme court has ruled crucial evidence cannot be used against a young woman charged with murder after she gave birth in that hospital bathroom.

Alexee Trevizo was 19 when the incident happened. The state supreme court ruled the statements she made from her Artesia hospital bed to police are inadmissible in court.

In January of 2023 staff at Artesia General Hospital called police and said they found the body of a newborn baby in a bathroom. Officers went with the staff to Trevizo’s hospital room, where she can be heard admitting what happened.

A district court ruled the statements she made in front of the police will not be allowed as evidence in her trial and said that would violate Trevizo’s medical privacy rights. The state filed an appeal arguing the police never said anything while in the room and didn’t compel Trevizo’s statements.

An autopsy found morphine in the baby's bloodstream.

New Mexico also allows abortion at any stage of pregnancy, as well.

In its ruling, the New Mexico Supreme Court wrote:

The state's argument urges us to adopt a per se rule that, whenever a third person is present who is not necessary for care or treatment while a patient communicates with their doctor, a waiver of confidentiality occurs, regardless of who the person is or the circumstances. We reject that argument as inconsistent with caselaw and the policy interests underlying the physician-patient privilege.

...

Based on the foregoing principles, we conclude that for a valid waiver of the physician-patient privilege to occur by the presence of a third party, at least the following requirements must be satisfied: (1) the patient must have actual knowledge of the presence of a third party not essential to care, (2) the patient must have the mental and physical capacity to waive the privilege, and (3) under the totality of the circumstances, the waiver must be voluntary. Applying this test to the facts before us, we conclude that the Defendant did not voluntarily her physician-patient privilege.

The news was welcome.

Yes, it was a tragic situation.

There are questions about how the medical staff handled Trevizo's care after the positive pregnancy test. Her severe back pain could have been from labor; it's possible she didn't know she was pregnant.

Trevizo's murder case is still pending. Reasonable people can question what Trevizo did and call it wrong, because it was. But it seems the hospital and police mishandled this case, and the New Mexico Supreme Court has now weighed in on it.