Not guilty of assault on officer

SANTA FE — After announcing a not guilty verdict on a charge of assaulting a federal officer, a judge here castigated a Taos County man Friday for his actions in an encounter with the officer on Picuris Pueblo tribal land in August 2013 for which he had spent about six months in jail after he violated conditions of release pending trial.

U.S. District Judge Martha Vazquez told William Cruz-Guinn, 25, of Peñasco to apologize to Bureau of Indian Affairs school resource officer Daniel Baca for Cruz-Guinn’s actions after he was stopped for speeding near Chamisal. “I’m sorry, you guys, for everything that occurred,” CruzGuinn said.

Cruz-Guinn was indicted last year and has been in federal custody since September, Albuquerque defense attorney Charles Knoblauch said after the hearing. According to Knoblauch, Cruz-Guinn was taking his girlfriend to work when he was stopped for speeding and did not have his driver’s license. Baca told Cruz-Guinn he could go, but as Cruz-Guinn made a U-turn which threw up dirt, “the officer felt threatened but there was no real intent by Mr. Cruz-Guinn to threaten the officer.”