Mescalero Apache Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Involuntary Manslaughter Charge

ALBUQUERQUE – Paul Raymond Garcia, 19, an enrolled member of the Mescalero Apache Nation who resides in Mescalero, N.M., pled guilty today in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to an involuntary manslaughter charge.

Garcia was arrested in Jan. 2016, on a criminal complaint charging him with involuntary manslaughter.  According to the complaint, Garcia killed a Mescalero Apache woman when he crashed his vehicle on March 23, 2015, on the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation in Otero County, N.M.  At the time of the crash, Garcia was driving under the influence of alcohol.  Garcia was subsequently indicted on the same charge on June 22, 2016.

During today’s proceedings, Garcia pled guilty to the indictment and admitted killing the victim by driving recklessly while under the influence of alcohol.  Garcia acknowledged that the alcohol rendered him incapable of exercising clear judgment and a steady hand in operating the vehicle. 

This case was investigated by the Mescalero Agency of the BIA’s Office of Justice Services and the New Mexico State Police and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron O. Jordan of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office.