New Mexico man sentenced for voluntary manslaughter

Arthur L. Garcia, 24, an enrolled member and resident of Acoma Pueblo, N.M., was sentenced this morning in federal court in Albuquerque, N.M., to 97 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for his voluntary manslaughter conviction.

Garcia was arrested in May 2014, and charged in a criminal complaint with killing a non-Native man in Indian Country in Cibola County, N.M., on May 8, 2014. The crime occurred during an argument between Garcia and the victim while the two men were drinking alcoholic beverages. The argument escalated into a physical altercation between the two men during which Garcia threw a 10 pound weight at the victim, hitting him in the head. Garcia then got on top of the victim and threw the weight down onto the victim’s face. Garcia was subsequently indicted on a second degree murder charge on May 21, 2014.

On March 27, 2015, Garcia plead guilty to a felony information charging him with voluntary manslaughter. In entering his guilty plea, Garcia admitted that on May 8, 2014, he killed the victim by striking him with a 10 pound weight with the intention of causing him to suffer serious bodily injury. Garcia also admitted that his actions resulted in the victim’s death and that he committed the crime on the Acoma Pueblo Indian Reservation.