New Mexico Supreme Court vacates Las Crucen’s murder conviction

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico (KVIA) -- The New Mexico Supreme Court just vacated the first-degree murder conviction of Las Crucen Mawu Ekon Revels. Revels was charged with murder after the shooting death of Nicodemus Gonzales at a 2021 house party. Now that his conviction has been overturned, officials say Revels could face another trial.

"In a unanimous opinion, the Court concluded that aggravated assault cannot serve as the underlying felony to elevate a homicide to a charge of felony murder as happened to Mawu Ekon Revels," a spokesperson for the court explained this morning.

The court has ordered the case back to the Dona Ana County District Attorney for resentencing and further proceedings, a court official explained.

"Revels can be retried on felony murder or a lesser included offense, such as second-degree murder, the Court explained," the court spokesperson said. "Double jeopardy protections prohibit a retrial for willful, deliberate first-degree murder because the jury acquitted him of that charge."

A jury had convicted Revels of killing Gonzales a few months after the shooting. Officials say Revels and another man had fired multiple times into a group during a fight that broke out at the party.

"In addition to felony murder, Revels was convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, shooting at or from a motor vehicle, conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, and conspiracy to commit shooting at or from a motor vehicle," the court spokesperson explained. "He was 17 years old at the time of the fatal shooting."

The Supreme Court vacated one of the conspiracy convictions, saying there was not enough evidence. The Court also agreed Revels' four-year sentence enhancement for a firearm was improperly applied.

“Defendant’s conviction for felony murder is legally invalid because it is based on the predicate felony of aggravated assault. Therefore, we vacate that conviction as a nonexistent crime,” the Court wrote in an opinion by Justice C. Shannon Bacon.

The Court explained that New Mexico law provides for different types of murder in the first degree, all punishable by life in prison. Second-degree murder is elevated to first-degree when the murder happens in commission of a felony or attempted commission of a felony, a court official explained.

"In vacating the murder charge, the Court explained that New Mexico law requires the underlying felony for a charge of felony murder to be independent of or collateral to the homicide. Aggravated assault cannot serve as the basis for felony murder because it is not possible to commit second-degree murder without also committing some form of aggravated assault, the Court noted."

The Court added that double jeopardy did not apply in this case as the reversal of his felony murder conviction happened due to a trial error, and does not qualify as an acquittal.