An Alcalde man who threatened two other men with a gun as they tried to help his ex-girlfriend move out of his house, and was then ordered held without bail pending trial, pleaded guilty to three felony charges.
David Casias, 42, pleaded guilty to one count of child abuse and two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
His plea deal sets his maximum sentence at four-and-a-half years. Prosecutors can argue for the maximum sentence of three years, while Casias’s attorney will be able to argue for a sentence of no more incarceration. He will be eligible for more than 278 days of credit toward his sentence for the time he has spent in jail and on house arrest pending trial.
Following the plea hearing, District Judge Anastasia Martin ordered Casias to be remanded into custody pending his sentencing hearing, which has not yet been set.
Casias was ordered to be held without bail on Aug. 19, after he was found to be a danger to the community. Martin then ordered him to be released on Dec. 11, before sending him back to jail on May 4.
Threats
Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s Deputy John Greene arrested Casias on July 31. Two men told the deputy that they were helping a friend move when Casias started fighting with their friend, then went into his house, got a silver pistol, pointed it at them and told them to leave, he wrote.
Casias told deputies that he was “jumped by a group of males and he fought them off” and that he told them to get off his property, then walked away. As soon as deputies handcuffed him, he started asking why he was being arrested and the other men weren’t, Greene wrote.
His ex-girlfriend’s son told Greene that after Casias attacked him, he took him to the ground and put him in a headlock to stop him from fighting. Casias got up, went into the house, got a gun, racked it and pointed it at him and his mother, Greene wrote.
One witness testified during the dangerousness hearing that Casias would get into his face, threaten to kill him and he was afraid of him. Casias’s ex-girlfriend testified about prior instances of domestic violence, Martin wrote in her order holding him without bail last year.
Casias has also been calling his ex-girlfriend from jail “with such consistent frequency, requiring (the victim) to block the jail’s number on her phone,” Martin wrote. “This is an indication that the Defendant will continue to contact (her) if released.”