Alexis Avila, the teenage mother accused of throwing her alive newborn in a trash bin in Hobbs on January 7, 2022, will be tried in Lea County on the criminal charge of “Child Abuse Causing Great Bodily Harm” – a first degree felony.

On Monday, March 13, judge William G. W. Shoobridge, of the Fifth District Court, District III, Lea County, rejected a motion filed by Avila’s attorney, Public Defender Ibukun Adepoju, to move the venue of Avila’s trial to Lincoln County.

In his ruling judge Shoobridge states that Avilia’s defense “…presented no testimony or specific documentary evidence showing an impartial trial is impossible in Lea County”… “or any county in the Fifth Judicial District.”

Request for Change of Venue 

In her request for a change of venue, Adepoju argues that many potential Lea County jurors have already “indicated prejudice”. Adepoju also contends that the possibility of prejudice stretches to potential jurors in the other Fifth District Court counties of Chavas and Eddy, as well as those in the Ninth District Court county of Roosevelt.

Adepoju states in her filing that “…the case has received major media attention from Lea County news outlets, nearby newspapers and television stations covering most of the state.” She further states that some of the coverage has been “prejudicial”. The Lea County Tribune has published several articles about the incident and subsequent legal issues.

Judge Shoobridge Rules No Change of Venue 

Judge Shoobridge disagrees with Adepoju’s argument. In his decision the judge writes that Avila’s defense did not provide “… any news story that was factually inaccurate, emotional or opinionated.” According to a KRQE News 13 report, Adepoju cited 39 news stories in her motion, and “only one was published in 2023.”

Adding weight to his decision, judge Shoobridge ruled that moving the trial to Lincoln County would yield a smaller base of potential jurors than the base that exists in Lea County. He ruled that the “…number of potential jurors in Lea County is more than three times larger than [the number in] Lincoln County,” states the KRQE article.

Avila, now 19, was arrested by Hobbs police after seeing surveillance video that showed her throwing a plastic bag containing her newborn into a trash bin located behind Rig Outfitters and Home Store in Hobbs on a frigid winter day in early January of last year. At the time Avilia was 18 years old. 

The Lea County Tribune previously reported that, “Avila confessed that she had thrown her newborn into the dumpster, telling police she panicked. She is on record as saying during the interview, ‘I was in a panic, and I didn’t know what to do. I was scared.'”