A South Carolina man pleaded guilty Friday to charges that he gunned down a New Mexico state police officer who had stopped to help him, marking a turning point in a case that had been set for trial later this year.

A South Carolina man pleaded guilty Friday to gunning down a New Mexico State Police officer who had stopped to help him with a flat tire last year.

A man pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to charges for shooting and killing New Mexico State Police Officer Justin Hare in March 2024. Jaremy Smith of Marion, South Carolina, was charged with carjacking resulting in death,

There are more than 1,700 miles separating Dillon County from New Mexico’s capital city, but officials in both communities have been side-by-side for nearly a year in the wake of a brutal cross-country crime spree that took the lives of first responders in both.