Alfred Lovato's mother, Darlene, broke into tears at the words "Not guilty" as the rest of his family hugged each other in celebration.

She was the first person the former state police sergeant hugged after embracing his defense attorney, Sam Bregman.

Lovato, who was a passenger in Carlos Fierro's car the night it struck and killed William Tenorio near downtown Santa Fe, was acquitted Tuesday by a jury of a charge of leaving the scene of an accident.

On Monday, a vehicular homicide charge against Lovato was dismissed by District Judge Michael Vigil.

Outside the courthouse, Bregman, with Lovato at his shoulder, commented on the case brought against his client by DWI special prosecutors Donna Bevacqua-Young of the New Mexico Attorney General's Office and Assistant City Attorney Alfred Walker.

"I know that Alfred Lovato has been waiting a long time to express the following," Bregman said. "Alfred Lovato wants to let the Tenorio family know how terribly sorry he is for their loss and that the entire evening took place the way it did."

The Tenorio family sat through every day of Lovato's trial as the prosecution reworked gritty details of the case, in which Fierro was convicted of vehicular homicide for driving into Tenorio after Fierro and Lovato had spent a night drinking in bars. At some points, family members were brought to tears when details of the car's impact on the pedestrian were explained. But when Lovato's verdict was read, there was little emotion on their faces.

Bregman said the whole trial was a waste of the state's resources.

"I am extremely disappointed in the attorney general and the assistant attorney general who prosecuted this case," Bregman said. "All along, for three years, we have been saying that they did not have the factual allegations to go forward with this case. They have wasted enormous state resources prosecuting a passenger for a driver's actions. I hope they think long and hard before they go down that road again and continue to waste judicial resources in prosecuting passengers."

According to jury instructions, in order to convict, the jurors needed to find that the state proved, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Lovato knew that he and Fierro had hit Tenorio outside the now-defunct WilLee's Blues Club on Guadalupe Street, and that he helped, encouraged or caused Fierro to leave the scene of the accident.

After 2 1/2 hours of deliberation, the jury couldn't find enough evidence to convict Lovato of either leaving the scene of an accident or knowingly leaving the scene. Knowingly leaving the scene of an accident is a third-degree felony that carries a maximum of three years of prison time. Simply leaving the scene is a fourth-degree felony that carries a maximum of 18 months in prison.

In his closing arguments, Bregman reminded the jury that 23 of 24 witnesses called by the state provided no evidence that Lovato knew the accident occurred or helped, encouraged or caused Fierro to leave the scene of an accident.

"They did not prove anything, anything at all, beyond a reasonable doubt," Bregman repeatedly told the jury.

Bevacqua-Young told the jury, "The law requires any one of us to stop after an accident. In this case, it was the passenger's responsibility to encourage them not to leave."

She pointed out to the jury that evidence from the trial shows Lovato heard the thud of the collision and felt glass in his eyes and mouth. She also argued that Tenorio, 46, a 200-pound man, was almost in Lovato's lap before bouncing off Fierro's BMW.

"How could you not know you hit something?" Bevacqua-Young asked. "That could not be caused by a rock or something so small."

Minutes after the jury's ruling, Attorney General Gary King issued this statement: "Our perspective on what happened is straightforward -- two adult men decided they were going to get stinking drunk together; both decided they should drive despite being severely impaired; then they stopped to get snacks together; and both were in the car when they struck and killed a pedestrian. We are disappointed that the judge did not let the jury hear our evidence because we believe they would have agreed with us that both men are responsible for William Tenorio's death that tragic evening in Santa Fe."

Despite the countless witnesses who testified about the physics of the crash, Fierro, a former lawyer, was the one witness who had knowledge to Lovato's role that night.

Fierro had previously said Lovato exclaimed something right after the impact. But he testified in court that Lovato's head was down at the time of the collision and that Fierro's yelling "Alfred!" multiple times prompted no response.

Bevacqua-Young told the jury in her closing argument that Lovato told Fierro after the incident, "Get me home."

That evidence was used in the Fierro trial in 2009 but was never submitted as evidence in Lovato's trial. In the jury's deliberation, they asked to see the video showing Fierro saying Lovato told him that. Because it wasn't submitted during the Lovato trial, the judge didn't allow them to view that evidence.

Bregman, in his closing argument, displayed his notebook, which had on it 24 witnesses' initials verifying they had no evidence or information to suggest Lovato encouraged Fierro to drink and drive or that he was conscious at the time of the accident.

He also reminded jurors to look at their instructions, which stated, "Neither mere presence nor presence with mental approval is sufficient to sustain a conviction as an aider or abettor. Presence must be accompanied by some outward manifestation or expression of approval, or shared purpose."

Standing outside of the court building with Lovato, Bregman said the state decided to prosecute this case for the wrong reasons.

"I believe the real reason Alfred Lovato was charged in the first place was because of who he was," Bregman said. "It wasn't because of what he did, it was because of who he was, being an off-duty police officer at the time."

In King's statement, he supported the decision to prosecute Lovato.

"It is never a waste of time and resources to try to get justice for a man who was run over and killed by a couple of drunks," King said.

King also said in his statement he was disappointed with the court's ruling.

Bregman and the Lovato family were not. "This shows our justice system does work," Bregman said.

Contact Nico Roesler at 986-3089 or nroesler@sfnewmexican.com.