Early in the morning of May 8, 2026, a wrong-way driver on Interstate 10 in Luna County, New Mexico struck two vehicles head-on. One person was killed. A second was hospitalized with a head injury. The driver — identified by New Mexico State Police as Artem Durnov, 31 — was arrested at the scene and charged with Homicide by Vehicle (DWI), DWI (Drugs), and Reckless Driving.
An arrest was made. Criminal charges were filed. By most measures, the system worked.
And yet the family of the person who died on I-10 that night has not received a single dollar. They won’t — not from the criminal case, no matter how it ends.
The Criminal Case and the Civil Case Are Two Different Things
This is one of the most common and most painful misunderstandings a grieving family can have. When an impaired driver kills someone and gets arrested, people naturally assume that justice is being served — and that compensation will follow. It doesn’t. Not automatically. Not at all.
The criminal case is brought by the state. The prosecutor’s job is to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed a crime and to seek punishment: jail time, probation, license revocation, fines. Those fines go to the state. The victim’s family gets nothing from a criminal conviction.
There is one nuance worth naming: a criminal sentence can include an order of restitution — a court-ordered payment from the defendant to the victim’s family for documented losses such as funeral expenses and out-of-pocket medical bills. Restitution is meaningful. It represents the court’s formal recognition that a real person was killed and that the people left behind suffered a concrete loss. But restitution orders are frequently unpaid or paid over many years, are limited to losses already documented in the criminal proceeding, and depend entirely on the defendant’s ability to pay. They are not a substitute for a civil wrongful death claim — and waiting to see what a judge orders is not a legal strategy.
The civil case is entirely separate. It is brought by the family — specifically, in New Mexico, by the Personal Representative of the deceased’s estate — against the at-fault driver. Its purpose is compensation: for the life that was lost, the income that will never be earned, the companionship that is gone. No one files that case automatically. No one files it on the family’s behalf. If it isn’t filed, it doesn’t happen.
This is why New Mexico wrongful death attorneys tell families to call immediately — not after the criminal trial concludes, not after the defendant is convicted, not after the dust settles. Now.
The Criminal Case Can Actually Help — If You Have the Right Attorney Working in Parallel
Here’s what most families don’t know: the criminal case produces evidence that is extremely useful in the civil case. Police reports. Toxicology results. Witness statements. The defendant’s own statements at the scene. If a driver was found to be under the influence of drugs, that toxicology report becomes powerful evidence in a civil damages claim.
Alex Flores at Singleton Schreiber is a former violent crimes prosecutor. Before representing injury victims, he prosecuted vehicular manslaughter cases as a federal prosecutor. He knows how criminal investigations are built from the inside — what evidence gets preserved and why, what gets lost and when, and exactly what to ask for from police and prosecutors to strengthen a parallel civil case. That experience changes how a civil case is built from day one.
But civil attorneys must be positioned to obtain and use that evidence. They must send preservation letters early. They must monitor the criminal proceedings. They must be ready to act when evidence becomes available — and to independently investigate what the criminal case may not fully pursue, such as whether any third parties share liability.
A New Mexico car accident attorney working a civil wrongful death case does not wait for the DA to finish. They build in parallel, because the civil statute of limitations — three years from the 1-2-2 — runs regardless of where the criminal case stands.
What If the Driver Has No Money?
Families sometimes assume that if the at-fault driver has no assets, there’s nothing to recover. That is rarely the full picture in a DWI wrongful death case.
New Mexico law requires insurers to offer uninsured and underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage at limits equal to your liability coverage, and a rejection is valid only if made in writing and attached to the policy. Many policies include it even when the owner does not remember buying it, so always have a lawyer check. If the at-fault driver carried insufficient insurance, the victim’s own policy may provide recovery — but that claim must be identified and filed. It doesn’t happen automatically.
Wrong-way DWI crashes can also involve additional defendants. If a licensed establishment served alcohol to someone whose intoxication was reasonably apparent, a separate dram-shop claim may exist. Every source of recovery must be found and pursued before it closes.
For families in southern New Mexico — in Luna County, Doña Ana County, and the surrounding region — an attorney who handles Las Cruces personal injury cases and Alamogordo personal injury cases knows the local courts and the regional insurance landscape.
The Arrest Is Not the End. It’s the Beginning of the Window.
When an impaired driver is arrested for killing someone, it can feel like the legal system will take it from here. In criminal terms, it will. In financial terms, it won’t. The family’s civil case must be built separately, filed separately, and won separately.
The families who call a wrongful death attorney in the days after a crash are in a fundamentally different position than the families who call years later, once the criminal case has resolved. Evidence that existed on day one is gone by year two. That’s not rhetoric — it’s how civil litigation works.
If your family lost someone in a DWI crash anywhere in New Mexico, call Alex Flores at Singleton Schreiber for a free consultation. A return call is guaranteed. No fee unless you win.
Alex Flores at Singleton Schreiber
505-587-3473 — Ask for Alex
Free Case Review — Contact Us Today
This post is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
Source: Fatal Wrong-Way DWI Crash in Luna County — 2nd Life Media Alamogordo Town News, May 10, 2026. New Mexico State Police District 12.