For Immediate Release:
October 20, 2020
Contact: Matt Baca — (505) 270-7148
Santa Fe, NM—Today, AG Balderas announced that the New Mexico Supreme Court
upheld multiple murder convictions where the Office of the Attorney General
represented the State on appeal. In two seperate rulings, the Court upheld first-degree
murder convictions of Muhammad Ameer and Bradley Scott Farrington.
“These brutal crimes impact the lives of all New Mexican families, and I am grateful to
the Court for its thoughtful deliberation in these cases and that they upheld these valid
convictions,” said Attorney General Balderas. “These cases are a culmination of a team
effort by trial and appellate prosecutors who achieved a just result for the victims’
families.”
Farrington, a former police Silver City police officer, was convicted of murder for the
strangulation death of his estranged wife Cassy. Multiple hearsay statements were
admitted at trial to establish the victim’s ongoing fear of Farrington and his use of his
position as a police officer to intimidate her and dissuade her from contacting the
authorities. The Court found that these statements were admissible under the
forfeiture-by-wrongdoing hearsay exception because Farrington intended to procure
Cassy’s unavailability as a witness. The Court also found that the evidence admitted at
trial – including these statements – were sufficient to uphold the murder conviction.
Regarding the Farrington case, AG Balderas added: “This case demonstrates that no
one is above the law. This defendant used his position as a police officer to terrorize his
victim, and I applaud the Court for its thoughtful and comprehensive treatment of this
important issue of law because it most often applies in cases of domestic violence.”
In the Ameer case, the prosecution was conducted by Assistant Attorneys General Mark
Probasco and Collin Brennan of the Office of the Attorney General. Ameer was
convicted of stabbing to death a man whom he then robbed. The Supreme Court
rejected his claims that his waiver of Miranda rights was not knowing and
voluntary. The Court also rejected his claim that he acted in self-defense, noting that
the evidence did not establish that Ameer was justified in using deadly force against the
victim.