Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
A Portales man was arrested Tuesday morning and charged with murder in connection with the city’s first homicide of the year.
David Michael Smith, 40, is charged with an open count of murder and two counts of tampering with evidence.
Portales police have not released the victim’s name.
Police Det. Charlie Smart said officials responded to a call at the emergency room of Roosevelt General Hospital at 7 p.m. Saturday regarding a male subject with “numerous, traumatic injuries.”
Smart said the individual was transferred to University Medical Center in Lubbock where he died at 5 p.m. Sunday.
Smart said he could not release any additional information because the case is under investigation.
He declined to give the victim’s name because family members have not been notified, he said.
Smith is being held at Roosevelt County Detention Center on a $200,000 bond.
The homicide is just the second this year in the 9th Judicial District, according to District Attorney Andrea Reeb.
Joseph Chavez, 39, was killed on March 8 in Clovis.
Jonathan Cruz, 24, was charged in August with first-degree murder in that case.
His trial is tentatively scheduled for April, court records show.
