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The 1st Judicial District Attorney's Office has dismissed a child abuse case filed Monday against an assistant attorney for the city of Santa Fe, arguing that the case lacked sufficient evidence to prosecute.

District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies wrote in the dismissal notice filed Wednesday that the third-degree felony child abuse case filed against Kevin Nault, 49, was based on a nearly three-year-old incident involving his 13-year-old stepson, who later died by suicide.

The case was filed this year after the boy's father contacted the Santa Fe Police Department and Mayor Michael Garcia, insisting the 2023 incident be revisited.

According to a statement of probable cause, Nault told investigators who looked into the incident that August that he had placed the teen in a "bear hug" restraint after his stepson refused to hand him a water bottle and complete chores his mother asked of him before she left the house to run errands.

However, Carmack-Altwies noted that the boy's mother didn't immediately make a police report on the incident, which the 13-year-old's therapist relayed to the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department weeks later.

While CYFD and Santa Fe Police looked into the incident, investigators ultimately "closed it out as a verbal dispute," Carmack-Altwies summarized this week from the court record.

The DA also noted a crucial discrepancy in the therapist's report that further challenged potential prosecution.

"The therapy notes state that the child articulated that he 'could breathe,'" she quoted from the evidence. "During a follow-up investigation three years later, the therapist states that he believes that 'could breathe' is a typographical error and that he meant to write 'could not breathe.'"

Carmack-Altwies said the purported error in the note likely rendered it inadmissible, noting that the evidence would likely be interpreted as hearsay by the courts.

She said the teen's death further compromised prosecution, leaving out critical testimony.

The probable cause statement filed by police improperly based the charge on an "intentional or negligent" legal standard of child abuse, the DA added. She said New Mexico's statute instead requires the state to prove an adult disregarded "a substantial and unjustifiable risk to the safety and health of a child."

The DA's Office reached many of the same conclusions after reviewing the case in 2024.

"The (1st Judicial District Attorney's Office) has repeatedly advised the (Santa Fe Police Department) that this case is not viable," she wrote.

John Miller is the sa国际传媒官网网页入口鈥檚 northern New Mexico correspondent. He can be reached at jmiller@abqjournal.com.