{"data":{"id":"us-nm/31-20a-5","jurisdiction":"us-nm","citation":"31-20A-5","heading":"Aggravating circumstances.","body":"The aggravating circumstances to be considered by the sentencing court or jury pursuant to the provisions of Section 31-20A-2 NMSA 1978 are limited to the following:\nA. the victim was a peace officer who was acting in the lawful discharge of an official duty when he was murdered;\nB. the murder was committed with intent to kill in the commission of or attempt to commit kidnaping, criminal sexual contact of a minor or criminal sexual penetration;\nC. the murder was committed with the intent to kill by the defendant while attempting to escape from a penal institution of New Mexico;\nD. while incarcerated in a penal institution in New Mexico, the defendant, with the intent to kill, murdered a person who was at the time incarcerated in or lawfully on the premises of a penal institution in New Mexico. As used in this subsection \"penal institution\" includes facilities under the jurisdiction of the corrections and criminal rehabilitation department [corrections department] and county and municipal jails;\nE. while incarcerated in a penal institution in New Mexico, the defendant, with the intent to kill, murdered an employee of the corrections and criminal rehabilitation department [corrections department];\nF. the capital felony was committed for hire; and\nG. the capital felony was murder of a witness to a crime or any person likely to become a witness to a crime, for the purpose of preventing report of the crime or testimony in any criminal proceeding, or for retaliation for the victim having testified in any criminal proceeding.","path":["Chapter 31 - Criminal Procedure","ARTICLE 20A Capital Felony Sentencing"],"source_url":"https://nmonesource.com/nmos/nmsa-unanno/en/item/18531/index.do","current_through":"2026-05-20","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-09-03T15:02:19Z","sha256":"de995bcfa6569683d7efbd1224ea97bfae7aae0f58cd8eec918579a8b904085a","source_id":"us-nm","stale":false,"prev":"us-nm/31-20a-4","next":"us-nm/31-20a-6"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}