New Mexico
New Mexico Supreme Court reverses conviction of Mawu Ekon Revels in 2021 shooting
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- The New Mexico Supreme Court vacated the murder conviction of Mawu Ekon Revels.
- Revels was convicted of killing Nicodemus Gonzales during a 2021 shooting at a house party in Las Cruces.
- The Court ordered the case back to district court for resentencing on the charges and said Revels could be retried.
The New Mexico Supreme Court vacated the conviction for first-degree murder of Mawu Ekon Revels for a shooting death at a house party in 2021, but he potentially could face another trial.
The Court concluded in a unanimous opinion that aggravated assault cannot serve as the underlying felony to elevate a homicide to a charge of felony murder as happened to Revels. New Mexico criminal law does not recognize aggravated assault as the predicate felony to murder because it is not possible to commit murder without also committing some form of aggravated assault, the Court wrote.
“(The) 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,” an opinion written by Justice C. Shannon Bacon read.
The Court ordered the case back to the district court in Doña Ana County for retrial and further proceedings. Revels can be retried on a charge of first-degree murder or a lesser included offense, such as second-degree murder, the Court explained.
A jury convicted Revels of killing Nicodemus Gonzales when he and Isaiah James William Taylor fired multiple times into a group of people during a fight at the house party, according to a news release from the New Mexico Dept. of Justice. Revels was 17 years old at the time of the shooting and a high school student.
Gonzalez was 23 when he was shot and killed at the home on Chaparro Street. At the time of the homicide, police believed Gonzalez was bystander to the conflict that resulted in gunfire.
In addition to first-degree 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.
Taylor was charged with first-degree murder, 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 and entered a no contest plea in November 2024. He was scheduled to be sentenced April 7. A sentencing order was not filed by the time of this reporting.
The Court vacated one conspiracy conviction and said there was not enough evidence to prove more than one conspiracy by Revels. The justices also said Revels improperly received a four-year sentence enhancement because a firearm was used in the crimes. The law allows a one-year firearm enhancement for juvenile defendants like Revels who are charged with first-degree murder.
New Mexico law provides for different types of murder in the first degree, all of which are punishable by life in prison. Second-degree murder may be elevated to first-degree murder when the killing occurs in the commission of a felony or attempt to commit a felony.
In reversing the murder conviction, the Court explained that New Mexico law requires the underlying felony to be independent of or collateral to the homicide.
“At bottom, a conviction for a nonexistent crime is a charging defect,” the Court wrote.
Double jeopardy protections do not stop the retrial of Revels for the crime because the reversal of the conviction was a reversal for a trial error and not an acquittal, the Court wrote.