Laguna Pueblo Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Assaulting Acoma Pueblo Woman

ALBUQUERQUE – Bradford Day, 41, an enrolled member of the Laguna Pueblo who resides in Laguna, N.M., was sentenced today in federal court in Santa Fe, N.M., to 18 months in federal prison for his assault conviction.  Day will be on supervised release for three years after completing his prison sentence.

 Day was arrested on May 6, 2014, on a criminal complaint charging him assault with a deadly weapon and assault resulting in serious bodily injury.  According to the complaint, Day assaulted an Acoma Pueblo woman on April 26, 2014, in a location within Acoma Pueblo in Cibola County, N.M.  The complaint alleged that in the early morning hours of April 26, 2014, Day assaulted the victim by throwing a pint bottle of beer at the victim’s face, which struck the victim’s face causing her to suffer bruises, cuts and the loss of three teeth.

Day pled guilty on Dec. 31, 2014, to a felony information charging him with assault resulting in serious bodily injury.  In entering his guilty plea, Day admitted assaulting the victim on April 26, 2014, by throwing an unopened bottle of beer at the victim and knocking out three of the victim’s teeth.

This case was investigated by the Laguna/Acoma Agency of the BIA’s Office of Justice Services and the Acoma Tribal Police Department.  Assistant U.S. Attorney David Adams prosecuted this case. The case was brought pursuant to the Tribal Special Assistant U.S. Attorney (Tribal SAUSA) Pilot Project in the District of New Mexico which is sponsored by the Justice Department’s Office on Violence Against Women under a grant administered by the Pueblo of Laguna.  The Tribal SAUSA Pilot Project seeks to train tribal prosecutors in federal law, procedure and investigative techniques to increase the likelihood that every viable violent offense against Native women is prosecuted in either federal court or tribal court, or both.  The Tribal SAUSA Pilot Project was largely driven by input gathered from annual tribal consultations on violence against women, and is another step in the Justice Department's on-going efforts to increase engagement, coordination and action on public safety in tribal communities.