'I was in shock' says man who found Brent Sullivan dead, during mother's child abuse trial

Pictures of her son’s dead body were projected on screens throughout the courtroom, and Alexis Murray Smith began to cry quietly as she saw what medical investigators and police did on the day of 12-year-old Brent Sullivan’s death from a fentanyl overdose.

This was on the second day of the trial against Murray Smith Wednesday in Eddy County District Court where she is charged with a count of intentional child abuse resulting in death, and child abuse not resulting in death.

The charges stemmed from the incident on Sept. 28, 2021 when Sullivan was found unresponsive in a shed on the property of his grandmother Kellie Smith in the 2400 block of Western Way in Carlsbad.

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The grandmother received identical charges to Murray Smith’s for her alleged involvement in Sullivan’s death, and for exposing his infant sister to drugs in the home, with that trial starting Nov. 6.

On the second day of Murray Smith’s trial, the jurors heard from multiple law enforcement witnesses testifying to the state of the home, evidence found at the scene, including multiple illegal drugs, and the state of Sullivan’s body when he was taken to Carlsbad Medical Center where he was pronounced deceased.

Smith’s boyfriend, who said he found the boy overdosing that day, also took the stand to describe the events leading up to the death.

More: Child abuse trial from Brent Sullivan's deadly overdose starts Monday. Here's what to know.

Here’s what happened on the second day of the trial.

Lawyers clash over photos of deceased Sullivan’s face and body

Defense Attorney Todd Holmes objected to the use of photos of Sullivan’s face taken after he was pronounced dead at Carlsbad Medical Center, in an apparent effort to mitigate the emotional impact of the evidence on the jury.

He said showing the photos would unfairly prejudice the jury against his client.

The parties agreed to exclude some of the photos, but pictures of Sullivan’s face, hands, arms and back where blood pooled as he lay, overdosed, in the shed were admitted by the court.

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“Seeing this picture, all you can conclude is that this is horrible. This is sad,” Holmes said of the photo of Sullivan’s face during the proceedings. “They want to get this in for the jury to get all that emotion. There’s no relevance.”

Assistant District Attorney Megan Kirtley responded that the pictures were needed to identify Sullivan and show the impacts of the alleged abuse.

“It’s always sad when someone dies. It’s always sad to see a deceased person,” she said. “This is an identifying photo and shows all of the things he had to go through. He was abused, he was put in this situation.”

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Jury hears from man who found Brent Sullivan overdosing in shed

Michael Ortiz took the stand Wednesday afternoon, describing how he found Sullivan unconscious in a backyard shed at the property on the day the boy died.

He began sobbing during his testimony, recounting the “traumatic experience” of finding the 12-year-old overdosing, and attempting to revive him.

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“I saw the boy lying there. I started yelling for help,” he said to the jury. “I was in shock. I was freaking out. He was not answering me. Brent was like my son. I loved him very much.”

Ortiz, an admitted user of methamphetamine, said he was in a relationship with Kellie Smith, Sullivan’s grandmother, for about seven years. He said he worked as a security guard in Orla, Texas, working up to 21-hour shifts and using meth to keep himself awake.

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On the day of Sullivan’s death, Ortiz said he returned to Carlsbad at about 10 a.m., visiting his mother and getting a call from Smith that “the baby was crying, and she was out of cigarettes.”

He went to a nearby store to buy the cigarettes and a coke, then headed to Smith’s house on Western Way.

Sullivan “was nowhere around,” Ortiz said when he got to the house. He said he went to the backyard to look for the boy, finding him unresponsive in the shed after forcing the door open.

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Ortiz said he noticed evidence of drug use and a “blue pill” on a pool table in the shed near Sullivan’s body, a pill law enforcement previously testified was fentanyl.

“There was drugs on the pool table. I was concerned for his well-being,” Ortiz said. “I just assumed he was messing with that stuff. I’ve heard a lot about those blue pills. Those blue pills are very dangerous.”

District Judge Lisa Riley put the trial in recess for the night during Ortiz’s testimony to allow the defense to review caselaw cited by the prosecution regarding the use of past testimony.

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Scientists say death was an accident, explain process to identify drugs

Daniel Gallego, a forensic pathologist with the Office of the Medical Investigator (OMI) testified for the jury that Sullivan died of toxicity from both fentanyl and methamphetamine, and that his death was ruled accidental after reviewing the autopsy report.

Gallego said signs of Narcan, a drug used to counteract a fentanyl overdose, were also found in Sullivan’s body, indicating the chemical was recently used before he died.

Gallego described how fentanyl slows the body down, causing the lungs to stop breathing and the nervous system to go into a coma, while meth speeds up the heart to the point of arrhythmia and can cause seizures in the brain.

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Taken together, he said, the drugs can prove especially dangerous as people take more of each to counteract the effects.

Holmes asked Gallego to reiterate that the death was ruled an accident.

Former Carlsbad Police Detective Patricia Lopez, now chief of the Tucumcari Police Department also testified, along with local OMI field inspector Rick Wiedenmann as the two initially examined Sullivan’s body at Carlsbad Medical Center.

More: Trial delayed for Alexis Murray, mother of Brent Sullivan who died of fentanyl overdose

Weidenmann said there were “no obvious signs of trauma” on the boy’s body.

The prosecution also called Sarah Salameh, a forensic scientist with New Mexico Department of Public Safety’s Hobbs laboratory to talk about the evidence she tested for the presence of illegal drugs.

She explained her process of receiving and cataloguing evidence and confirmed that multiple samples taken from the home where Sullivan died were positive for fentanyl and meth.

Evidence technician discusses numerous drugs, paraphernalia found in residence

Carlsbad Police Department evidence technician Trey Thompson continued his testimony that began Tuesday, proceeding through photos he took at the scene and bags of evidence collected during the investigation.

He noted several bags of a variety of drugs including fentanyl, methamphetamine, cannabis and psychoactive mushrooms or “shrooms” found at the house and in multiple vehicles searched that were on the property.

Pieces of burned tin foil, indicative of fentanyl being smoked, littered the shed, Thompson said, and a box of foil was found in one of the bedrooms of the house.

“You don’t usually see foil in someone’s bedroom,” Thompson said.

Holmes sought to cast doubt on the photographic evidence, pointing out a piece of burned tinfoil appeared in a different position on the pool table in two of the photos entered in evidence.

“We would unravel it to see if it’s been used or if it’s storing drugs,” Thompson explained.

Holmes asked if any of the evidence Thompson collected or photographed tied the incident to his client directly.

Thompson said it did not.

What’s next?

The prosecution will continue questioning Ortiz about the day of Sullivan’s death, after reviewing caselaw that could allow them to ask about his previous testimony without providing said testimony for prior review.

Once the prosecution finishes calling its witnesses, and the defense is allowed to question each of them, the defense will then be allowed to call any additional witnesses to take the stand.

Still on the witness list is Kellie Smith who lived at the house where Sullivan died. She is the mother of the defendant Alexis Murray Smith and grandmother of Sullivan and is also facing charges tied to his death.

After the both sides are done making their case, the 12-person jury will issue a verdict likely by Friday.

Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Man who found Brent Sullivan dead testifies at mother's abuse trial