The Attorney General's Office will proceed with newly reinstated criminal charges against Alfred Lovato, the former state police officer accused as an accomplice in a fatal hit-and-run case, an office spokesman said Monday.

The state Court of Appeals on Friday overturned a Santa Fe judge's dismissal of charges including vehicular homicide against Lovato, who was a passenger in the car driven by drunken lawyer Carlos Fierro the night it struck and killed a pedestrian near downtown Santa Fe.

Lovato's attorney, Sam Bregman of Albuquerque, said Monday he is evaluating whether to appeal the case to the state Supreme Court.

"I'm disappointed to hear that the state is going to continue to move forward with that matter," Bregman said. "Either way, we believe that we'll win it on the merits, if necessary, because Alfred Lovato committed no crime."

Police said that Fierro, after a night of drinking in Santa Fe bars with Lovato, had a blood-alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit when his car hit 46-year-old William Tenorio of San Felipe Pueblo as Tenorio crossed Guadalupe Street in front of the now-defunct WilLee's Blues Club on Nov. 26, 2008.

After a jury in late 2009 convicted Fierro of vehicular homicide, he pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of a fatal accident in exchange for not pursuing appeals in his case. Fierro, whose plea deal called for at least three years in prison, unsuccessfully sought clemency from former Gov. Bill Richardson before Richardson left office in December.

The state in June 2009 charged Lovato, who was an off-duty member of the governor's security detail at the time of the incident, as a party to the crime.

The charges came months after a state appeals court ruling in another DWI case that a passenger can be convicted of vehicular homicide if it's shown that the passenger aided and abetted in the crime.

State District Judge Michael Vigil, however, dismissed the charges against Lovato. Vigil said the earlier appellate court ruling, known as State v. Marquez, was an unforeseeable interpretation of a state statute and therefore couldn't be applied retroactively to Lovato.

In overturning Vigil's decision last week, a three-judge panel of the appeals court disagreed, saying clear language in the state Motor Vehicle Code regarding parties to a crime constituted fair notice that Lovato's conduct exposed him to the possibility of criminal prosecution.

Repeating its interpretation in State v. Marquez, the appellate court said someone can be found to have aided and abetted in the crime if they exhibited "some outward manifestation or expression of approval, or shared purpose."

The appeals court remanded the Lovato case back to the district court for the charges to be reinstated.

Bregman noted Monday that the district judge had stated during his preliminary hearing that if there was no new evidence against Lovato it was unlikely that the case would proceed to a jury. "And I'm not aware of any new evidence," Bregman said.

After the fatal incident, Lovato resigned his position as a state police sergeant. He was hired in August 2010 as a deputy by the Rio Arriba County sheriff at the time, Joe Mascareñas, while Lovato awaited a hearing on a misconduct complaint filed by the state Attorney General's Office. A spokesman for current Rio Arriba County Sheriff Tommy Rodella said Monday that Lovato is no longer employed by the department.