PUEBLO OFACOMA Acoma Pueblo man Anthony Faustine was sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter on October 5. According to the United States Department of Justice, Faustine pleaded guilty on January 26 to second degree murder and assault which resulted from a car accident he caused while attempting to flee from Laguna Police Department.
The crash occurred on April 22, 2020. Faustine had been released from jail days earlier by 13th Judicial District Court. He was being held for failing to appear on a bench warrant for his third DWI charge from 2016.
DUI/DWI
According to multiple court records, Faustine was arrested in October of 2016 for allegedly attempting to flee from police while driving drunk. He was given three-and-ahalf years of supervised probation for this incident.
Faustine, however, failed to uphold his probation obligations. On October 25, 2018, probation officer Eric Barela wrote a report calling Faustine an, “absconder from supervision” and that he, “Does not take probation serious and is not a good candidate for supervised probation.” In his report to the courts, Barela asked that the supervised probation be rescinded and Faustine be remanded to custody.
13th Judicial District Prosecutor Sherry Thompson filed a motion on November 15, 2018 to have Faustine remanded to custody, where, had this actually happened, he would have been held until June 4, 2020. Court was scheduled for December 13, 2018 – Faustine did not show up for court.
A bench warrant was issued on December 13 for Faustine’s arrest, but the warrant would not be served until 2020.
On April 9, 2020, the Isleta Pueblo Police Department arrested Faustine on the warrant after running his name, he would remain in custody until he was arraigned on April 20 in the 13th Judicial District Court. Here, Judge Amanda Sanchez Villalobos would order Faustine released from jail, setting a hearing date for June 8. He was released on a “Zero tolerance” order, “To report to [Audit Probation and Parole Office within] 24 hours of release.”
Faustine reported to the probation and parole office – at first. The 13th Judicial District Court would not find out until after several missed appointments at the probation and parole office that Faustine had been arrested for involuntary manslaughter.
Fatal Crash
In the early afternoon of April 22, Laguna Police Department received word about a red Suzuki that was swerving on the eastbound lanes of Interstate 40 and almost caused an accident. The caller reported seeing the red Suzuki exit off of the 124 off-ramp and head down State Road 124. Laguna police went searching for the vehicle, and found a construction foreman on Rainfall Road who informed the police about red Suzuki speeding through their construction site, narrowly missing several of the construction workers. Police were informed that the vehicle was heading toward Cottonwood Trail, toward the Pueblo of Acoma.