ZUNI PUEBLO – On January 9, 2021, a 51-yearold man drove through a residential area in Zuni Pueblo while firing a handgun. He struck a bystander with a bullet and was charged with “assault with a dangerous weapon and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence”. The man, identified by the United States Department of Justice as Martin Eriacho of Zuni Pueblo, pleaded guilty to the charge on September 7 and will spend 10 years in a federal prison.
Just after midnight on Jan. 9, 2021, residents in a rural part of Zuni Pueblo woke up to the sound of gunshots and a vehicle driving recklessly outside their homes. Eriacho pleaded guilty to recklessly discharging his firearm near the residences. Residents scrambled out of bed and peeked their heads outside to see what the commotion was, with one resident stepping outside of his house to check on the commotion. The resident, identified as John Doe in court records, was approximately 20-feet away from Eriacho who fired his gun, striking John Doe in the arm, near the elbow.
The Gallup Resident Agency of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office was called in by the Zuni Police Department to investigate this case. Eriacho was remanded to jail, but did not go quietly, asking the court in early February 2021 to release him from jail as he feared John Doe would attack him. The United States District Court did not accept this explanation. Judge Steven C. Yarbrough wrote in an order denying early release that Eriacho posed a threat to the public, and cited another US District Court case United States v. Begay, 2019, to say, “that no condition or combination of conditions will reasonably assure the appearance of the person as required and the safety of any other person and the community.” Therefore, Judge Yarbrough denied the request for early release.
On September 7, Eriacho pleaded guilty to assault with a dangerous weapon and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. Finally, on December 8, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Once released from prison, Eriacho will have three years of supervised release. The Gallup Resident Agency of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office investigated this case with assistance from the Zuni Police Department, they worked with Assistant United States Attorneys Joseph Spindle and Zachary Jones who prosecuted the case.