A New Mexico man faces up to 20 years in prison after a jury of Durango today found him guilty of attacking a guard at a Ute Mountain Ute Reservation jail in Montezuma County in 2008.
Ronald Romero, 46, of Gallup, N.M., a member of the Nambe Pueblo Tribe, grabbed the officer by the face, gouging his eye and scratching the cornea of the Officer Shawn Boyd’s right eye.
The two were arguing in the tribal jail in Towaoc when Boyd attacked, ultimately requiring three officers and a shock from a Taser to control him, according to the indictment.
A sentencing date has not been set. In addition to a 20-year sentence, Romero could be fined up to $250,000, prosecutors said today.
His lawyer had argued he was wrongfully jailed at the time of the attack. He began serving an eight-year sentence on a felony domestic violence conviction by a tribal court.
Romero has sued the tribe in federal court in New Mexico claiming his sentence was unusually long and in violation of the Indian Civil Rights Act, which he contends allowed only a one-year sentence.
