DA: No death penalty for Levi Chavez

LOS LUNAS, N.M. (KRQE) - Prosecutors will not seek the death penalty in the case of Levi Chavez, the former APD officer charged with killing his wife.

Valencia County District Attorney Lemuel Martinez made the announcement Thursday.

Chavez is accused of murdering his wife Tera in their Valencia County home in 2007 and staging it to look like a suicide.

Chavez was indicted in April after investigators say they secured new evidence in the case.

While the death penalty was abolished in 2009, crimes committed before that time are still eligible if they meet the criteria.

Martinez said he didn't feel the case met the qualifications of the death penalty, and it was the family's wishes not to seek it.

Tera Chavez's family issued their own statement today saying, "As a family, we do not oppose the death penalty in general, but in this case it does not make sense because of their grandchildren."

A trial date for Levi Chavez has not been set. He has denied guilt, and his lawyer has said they will show in court that Tera Chavez did commit suicide.