Albuquerque Journal

Murder suspect Dakota Briscoe to be held until trial

34-year-old allegedly killed two men and burned their bodies

- BY MATTHEW REISEN JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Despite technical difficulti­es, the message was clear: Dakota Briscoe isn’t going anywhere.

Second Judicial District Judge Brett Loveless granted a motion to detain the 34-year-old murder suspect until trial during a televideo hearing — rife with spotty video, muting issues and connection problems — Wednesday afternoon.

Loveless called the allegation­s against Briscoe “extremely violent” and “brazen.”

“The defendant is alleged to have killed these two individual­s and taken substantia­l steps to not only to cover his crime — by burning the bodies and the evidence in the vehicles but also engaging in a number of other violent altercatio­ns to flee the scene,” Loveless said.

“Especially in a case where the magnitude of the crimes is so great, there’s simply nothing that the court can order that the defendant would comply with.”

Briscoe is accused of killing Eric Carbajal, 36, and Nathan Garcia, 39, on Sept. 7 then torching an SUV with their bodies inside before trying to carjack two women at gunpoint before firing at a third woman and stealing her vehicle.

He is facing numerous charges, including first-degree murder, attempted armed robbery, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated burglary and aggravated arson.

During the nearly hourlong hearing, prosecutor­s laid out the allegation­s against Briscoe as his defense attorney questioned the veracity of those allegation­s.

Assistant District Attorney Lindsay Stuart said Briscoe showed “zero remorse” by lighting the bodies on fire and “wanton disregard” for life in the assaults that followed on nearby neighbors.

“This type of defendant is the most dangerous,” she said. “We can’t put him on a GPS to keep him away from somebody because there’s nobody to keep him away from, he’s doing this to the community.”

Defense attorney Liane Kerr said Briscoe’s constituti­onal rights were being violated, most notably his right to confront his accuser.

“We don’t have the officer here to testify as to what the officer investigat­ed,” she said, adding that the criminal complaint is “based on hearsay.”

She asked the judge to refer to the Arnold Tool, which recommende­d release on recognizan­ce with conditions. In the end, Loveless declined that request.

 ?? ROBERTO E. ROSALES/JOURNAL ?? Dakota Briscoe listens in from the Metropolit­an Detention Center during a televideo pretrial detention hearing in state District Court on Wednesday afternoon.
ROBERTO E. ROSALES/JOURNAL Dakota Briscoe listens in from the Metropolit­an Detention Center during a televideo pretrial detention hearing in state District Court on Wednesday afternoon.

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