Aug. 13 – Zachary Babitz, accused of fatally shooting 83-year-old Gordon Wilson during a carjacking in Santa Fe last week, remained largely silent Tuesday as he made his first court appearance via video.
He has not entered a plea to the charges against him in the Aug. 6 incident in a shopping mall parking lot: first-degree murder, armed robbery and possession of a firearm by a felon.
If convicted, Babitz could face life in prison for murder, nine years for armed robbery and six years for weapons possession, according to Santa Fe County Judge David Segura.
Prosecutors filed a motion Tuesday seeking to have Babitz held in jail until his trial, arguing that no conditions of release would reasonably protect the community from him. The motion will move the case from magistrate court to state district court.
District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer, who is listed as the judge to preside over the pretrial hearing, had not yet set a date for the hearing. The motion calls for it to be held no later than Aug. 27.
Babitz, 38, who appeared by video from the Doña Ana County Jail, said little during the hearing, confirming only that he could hear the judge but couldn’t see Segura because he wasn’t wearing his glasses, and that he knew his rights.
Babitz also told Segura that he had no address because he was in jail. Segura said that documents about his case will be sent to him in jail.
According to an earlier report, Las Cruces police arrested Babitz Saturday night after he was suspected of shooting a person, stealing a vehicle and then vandalizing it.
Babitz has a long criminal history in New Mexico and other states. He was released from a New Mexico prison in March after serving about half of a 10-year sentence for a series of armed robberies in 2018. He had pleaded guilty in March 2019 to six counts of robbery and other crimes.
“According to the state statute, [Babitz] “He was eligible for 30 days of reduced sentence per month, and therefore eligible for release on March 12, 2024, with two years of parole and five years of probation thereafter,” state Department of Corrections spokeswoman Brittany Roembach wrote in an email Friday.
Investigators believe Babitz, who may have lived in Edgewood, disabled an electronic display on August 1.
He eluded police for days after the Aug. 6 shooting in Santa Fe, in which he is accused of killing Wilson and stealing the elderly man’s 2020 Jeep Grand Cherokee from the parking lot of a busy shopping center on the city’s south side.
Babitz began serving a 13-year sentence in California for an armed carjacking in October 2008. He was released in June 2016 after receiving 1,935 days — more than five years — of credit for time served before his conviction, a spokesperson for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation wrote in an email Tuesday.
Reporter Nicholas Gilmore contributed to this report.
