Jicarilla Apache Woman Receives 12-Month Prison Sentence for DUI-Related Involuntary Manslaughter Conviction |
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U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of New Mexico
July 18, 2011
ALBUQUERQUE—This afternoon, Richaline Atole, 30, a member of the Jicarilla Apache Tribe, was sentenced to imprisonment for a year and a day to be followed by three years of supervised release for an involuntary manslaughter conviction. Atole also was ordered to pay $6,163.50 in restitution to cover the costs of the victim’s funeral. Atole, who was released to a halfway house under pretrial supervision following her arrest on October 20, 2010, is required to surrender to a federal correctional facility to be designated by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons within 60 days.
United States Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales said that Atole entered a guilty plea to involuntary manslaughter and admitted killing Andy Talamante, 41, on October 16, 2010, while operating a motor vehicle and under the influence of alcohol within the confines of the Jicarilla Apache Indian Reservation.
Court records reflect that the motor vehicle accident leading to Mr. Talamante’s death occurred on the evening of October 16, 2010, on Jicarilla Road 8 near Dulce, New Mexico. Atole was driving a car with two passengers, her boyfriend, Wilfred Bia, who was in the front passenger seat; and Mr. Talamante, who was in the back seat. Mr. Talamante was in a hurry to get home and insisted that Atole pass a slower moving vehicle in front of them. When Atole attempted to pass the slower vehicle, she swerved, lost control of her car and went off the side of the road into an arroyo. Witnesses said that Atole’s car went airborne and flipped four or five times before coming to rest. Mr. Talamante was ejected from Atole’s car and was laying on the ground dead when officers from the Jicarilla Apache Police Department arrived on the scene. Atole and Mr. Bia suffered only minor injuries.
Court records reflect that, when speaking with Atole at the scene of the accident, a Jicarilla Apache Police Officer detected a strong odor of alcohol. Tests on blood drawn from Atole at San Juan Regional Medical Center more than three hours after the accident revealed that Atole had a blood alcohol content of .231, just shy of three times the legal limit. Atole told officers that she lost control of the vehicle while driving 40 to 45 miles per hour and admitted that she drank a six-pack of beer before the accident.
The case was investigated by the Jicarilla Apache Police Department, the Jicarilla Apache Game and Fish Department, and Federal Bureau of Investigation, and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jack E. Burkhead.