Not taking the plea

Defense attorney had expected better offer

Michael Preston Fox, acquitted of first-degree murder in a 2014 stabbing death, isn’t taking a plea offered by prosecutors that would sentence him to 15 years for seconddegree murder.

Michael Preston Fox appeared in court Friday for a status conference and possible guilty plea for stabbing a man to death in 2014, but he wasn’t buying the only thing on offer from the District Attorney’s Office.

Fox was acquitted of firstdegree murder at a July jury trial before 2nd Judicial District Judge Brett Loveless, but the jury deadlocked on other charges, including the lesser included offense of seconddegree murder, two counts of kidnapping and two counts of false imprisonment. Jurors convicted Fox of tampering with evidence.

His retrial on the unresolved charges is set for March 7.

Fox’s attorney Susan Porter said jurors had voted 11-1 for acquittal on seconddegree murder, so she had expected a better post-trial offer from the prosecution than having her client take a second-degree murder plea in exchange for a 15-year sentence.

Police said Fox, 33, stabbed Kenneth Boyd once in the chest, killing him, when the two confronted each other at an Albuquerque gas station in early September 2014.

Fox had been at a party in Edgewood with Boyd, 23, Boyd’s girlfriend, Krista Ramey, and their infant son, and had driven off in Boyd’s car with the child inside when Boyd and his girlfriend got out of the car in the midst of an argument with each other, according to one version of events.

The child’s mother, however, said she got out of the car to retrieve milk from the trunk for the child.

The couple eventually caught up with the baby and Fox in Albuquerque, and Boyd was stabbed during a chase and confrontation connected with the child’s retrieval.