Judge finds evidence sufficient for murder charges in Gypsum stabbing case
But whether teen will be tried as an adult won't likely be decided until next year
Chris Dillmann/Vail Daily
A four-day preliminary hearing wrapped up Thursday for 17-year-old Nefi Ezequiel Armijo Hernandez, who is charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree assault, and two counts of violent crime.
Judge Rachel J. Olguin-Fresquez ruled that there is sufficient evidence to demonstrate probable cause in all five of the charges Armijo Hernandez is facing, saying that the use of a knife in an April 24, 2024, fight in Gypsum, “did create a grave risk and did result in death.”
But whether Armijo Hernandez will be tried as an adult will likely have to wait until 2026 to be decided. Olguin-Fresquez had previously granted the defense permission to submit written briefs following the conclusion of the reverse-transfer hearing. Olguin-Fresquez set a deadline of 35 days to provide those briefs, and the defense team — consisting of attorneys Carter Hilty, Valerie Cole and Angela Campbell — said they can attempt to file those briefs ahead of that deadline.
Olguin-Fresquez said on Thursday she was prepared to render a decision on both the preliminary hearing and the reverse-transfer hearing, but was reminded of the previously agreed-upon allowance for additional briefs.
Olguin-Fresquez issued the ruling after summarizing the evidence presented at the preliminary hearing, which included testimony from Sgt. Jeff Waltz with the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office, Detective Jose Balderas with the Vail Police Department, and Dr. Casey Bitting, a forensic pathologist with the Arapahoe County coroner’s office.
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A witness reported seeing Armijo Hernandez “take two punches toward Jackson,” Olguin-Fresquez said.
Bitting then stated that “the cause of death was determined to be two sharp force injuries in the manner of homicide,” Olguin-Fresquez said. “She did, in her testimony, state that the injury to the heart lines up perfectly with the entry and travel of the knife wounds. Both wounds travel in the same direction and the heart has a sharp-force injury.”
In an attempt to save Davis’ life, a tube was inserted into his chest, and Bitting “did believe the chest tube would not create a sharp-force injury, and there is no indication that the chest tube caused the injury,” Olguin-Fresquez said.
Olguin-Fresquez said she believes that the evidence presented is supportive of a finding of probable cause that Armijo Hernandez stabbed Davis, and “the level of intent in this particular charge is under circumstances evidencing an attitude of universal malice, manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life.”
“The court finds that a person with a knife in their hands, stabbing, even if it is not intended to an individual, a stabbing into a crowd of people, stabbing into an area where there are several people, that would be sufficient for probable cause to demonstrate an attitude of universal malice, manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life,” she added.
