Jury convicts Bobby Charles Crawford of two counts of first degree murder
A Las Cruces jury found Bobby Charles Crawford, 47, guilty in Doña Ana County District Court on Thursday after his involvement in a pursuit through Las Cruces' East Mesa featuring an exchange of gunfire between police and an Alamogordo man in June 2023.
“We sincerely appreciate the Doña Ana County jury's hard work which found defendant Crawford guilty of the attempted murder of two Las Cruces Police officers and other associated violent crimes," District Attorney Gerald Byers said in a press release that announced the conviction.
"Their verdict demonstrates Doña Ana County juries will assign accountability for proven criminal conduct. We also thank the court for presiding over a fair and efficient trial."
Crawford was convicted of two counts of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated assault on a peace officer, aggravated fleeing a law enforcement officer, and shooting at or from a motor vehicle.
Attorney's Cash Fazal and Chris Richman prosecuted the case.
The jury deliberated for four hours.
On June 21, 2023, a New Mexico State Police officer began following a white Chevrolet Suburban suspected of belonging to Crawford who had a warrant for his arrest. A Las Cruces police unit responded to the area to assist. Crawford fled, engaging the officers in a chase through residential neighborhoods.
In effort to stop Crawford, a Las Cruces police officer placed his vehicle in front of Crawford's vehicle. Passing around the officer’s patrol unit, Crawford fired at the police vehicle and other law enforcement vehicles as they began to surround him. Officers returned fire. Crawford barricaded himself inside of the SUV and eventually surrendered to the officers.
"At sentencing, my office will request the court impose the maximum sentence permitted by law, so that this dangerous convict will not pose a future threat to the public or public servants," Byers said in the release.
Jason Groves can be reached at 575-541-5459 or jgroves@lcsun-news.com. Follow him on Twitter @jpgroves.
This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Jury convicts Bobby Charles Crawford of two counts of first degree murder
