Zachary Babitz appears Tuesday from the Do帽a Ana County Detention Center in Las Cruces for a virtual appearance before 疯客直播 Fe County Magistrate Judge David A. Segura.
Zachary Babitz appears Tuesday from the Do帽a Ana County Detention Center in Las Cruces for a virtual appearance before 疯客直播 Fe County Magistrate Judge David A. Segura.
Zachary Babitz, accused of fatally shooting 83-year-old Gordon Wilson during a carjacking in 疯客直播 Fe last week, was largely silent Tuesday when he made his first court appearance via video.
He didn鈥檛 enter a plea to the charges he faces in the Aug. 6 incident in a shopping center parking lot: first-degree murder, armed robbery and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
疯客直播 Fe County Magistrate Judge David Segura said if Babitz is convicted, he could face life in prison for the murder charge, nine years for the armed robbery charge and six years for the count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Prosecutors filed a motion Tuesday that seeks to have Babitz held in jail until his trial, arguing no conditions of release can reasonably protect the community from him. The motion will move the case from Magistrate Court to state District Court.
Zachary Babitz
District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer, listed as the judge who will preside over the pretrial detention hearing, hadn鈥檛 set a date for the proceeding, which must occur by Aug. 27, according to the motion.
Babitz, 38, who appeared by video from the Do帽a Ana County jail, said almost nothing during the hearing, only confirming he could hear the judge 鈥 but couldn鈥檛 see Segura because he didn鈥檛 have his glasses 鈥 and he understood his rights.
Babitz also told Segura he didn鈥檛 have an address because he was in jail. Segura said documents concerning his case will be sent to him at the jail.
Las Cruces police arrested Babitz on Saturday evening after he was suspected of robbing a person at gunpoint, stealing a vehicle and then crashing it, according to a previous report.
Babitz has a lengthy criminal history in New Mexico and other states. He was released from a New Mexico prison in March after serving about half of a 10-year sentence for a string of armed robberies in 2018. He had pleaded guilty in March 2019 to six counts of robbery and other felony charges.
鈥淧er state statue, [Babitz] was eligible to earn 30 days of good time credit, per month, and was therefore eligible to release on March 12, 2024, with two years of parole and five years of probation to follow,鈥 state Corrections Department spokeswoman Brittany Roembach wrote in an email Friday.
Gordon Wilson
Investigators believe Babitz, who might have been living in Edgewood, cut off an electronic monitor Aug. 1.
He eluded police for several days following the Aug. 6 shooting in 疯客直播 Fe, in which he is accused of killing Wilson and stealing the elderly man鈥檚 2020 Jeep Grand Cherokee in the parking lot of a busy shopping center on the city鈥檚 south side.
Babitz began serving a 13-year sentence in October 2008 in California for an armed carjacking. He was released in June 2016 due to 1,935 days 鈥 more than five years 鈥 of credit for time served before his sentencing, a spokesman from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation wrote in an email Tuesday.
Reporter Nicholas Gilmore contributed to this report.
