SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - The New Mexico Court of Appeals has denied a woman’s appeal challenging use of her hospital-bed confession in a 2008 Albuquerque-area auto wreck in which a man was killed.
Darla Bregar was convicted of homicide and driving under the influence. Her appeal contended that her confession was coerced and the only evidence that she was driving an SUV that crashed, injuring her and killing Thomas Spurlin.
A trial judge refused to bar use of the confession. The judge said Bregar’s statement was voluntary and not coerced and that her statements to investigators were coherent and appropriate to the questions they asked.
The Court of Appeals upheld the judge’s ruling, saying there was circumstantial evidence supporting the conviction in addition to the confession.
Bregar is imprisoned at the Springer Women’s Facility.
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