The state Supreme Court has overturned one of two murder convictions of a Hobbs man who is serving life in prison for the deaths of two women in separate crimes.
The court last week tossed out Paul Lovett's conviction of murdering Elizabeth Garcia in 2002. The young mother was abducted while working at a convenience store in the southeastern New Mexico community and was stabbed more than 50 times.
The court affirmed Lovett's rape and murder convictions for the killing of Patty Simon nearly 16 months later. Her body was found in May 2003 in a caliche pit outside of Hobbs.
The justices ruled that a district court judge erred in holding one trial for both murders and it was prejudicial to Lovett in the Garcia case.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.