Former Officer Sentenced for DWI Deaths

Brandon Roybal-Barber, a former Cuba Police Officer, was sentenced to 26 years in prison on March 15 after he pleaded guilty to two counts of vehicular manslaughter. 

Royal-Barber, who had also spent 10 years with the New Mexico National Guard, also pleaded guilty to great bodily harm by vehicle and having an open container.  He pleaded guilty to the charges in December.

Royal-Barber was intoxicated when he crashed driving the wrong way on I-25 on May 1, 2021. The fatal accident killed Diego Arellano and Alfredo Escaname-Hernandez while leaving Fernando Arellano severely injured. 

When Bernalillo County Sheriff's deputies arrived, they found a partially consumed liquor bottle on the floor of Roybal-Barber's Ford F-150. 

In 2016, Royal-Barber pleaded guilty to a DWI after he was found asleep behind in traffic near Unser and Central. That time, he was sentenced to complete the DWI First Offender Program.