Court records show City Council candidate arrested in 2015

Albuquerque City Council candidate Teresa Garcia was arrested in 2015, and later acquitted, on a domestic violence charge after her then-husband called police and reported that she had attacked him in the couple’s home.

Garcia was charged with aggravated battery against a household member (no great bodily harm), a misdemeanor. A Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court jury found Garcia not guilty of the charge on Aug. 21, 2015.

Garcia faces District 3 Councilor Klarissa Peña in a runoff election on Dec. 9. Peña won 41% of the vote Nov. 4 in a three-way contest, sending the race into a runoff with Garcia, who received 38% of the vote.

Garcia identifies herself as a victim of domestic violence and contends that her ex-husband used the criminal system against her by charging her with a crime.

“I was not the offender,” Garcia said of the 2015 incident. “I was the victim and that was proven. I was exonerated and acquitted.”

Garcia also said she had believed the case had been expunged from public records. Under state law, a person must file a petition in district court to expunge criminal records, but court records show no indication that Garcia filed an expungement petition.

The 2015 experience prompted Garcia to end her 10-year career as a pharmacy technician and become an advocate for survivors of domestic violence.

In October, Garcia completed a three-year term as chair of the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Commission for the city of Albuquerque. Currently, she works remotely as a digital marketing and communications specialist for the Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence.

Previously she served as director of training and communications for the New Mexico Coalition Against Domestic Violence from December 2019 through 2022.

“This is why I advocate so hard for (domestic violence) survivors in the community because of what I’ve been through,” she said. “Sixty percent of survivors get arrested and I was one of those, and my offender used the court system to press charges.”

The Journal asks all city candidates to complete a questionnaire that asks if the candidate has ever been arrested, charged or convicted of a crime. Garcia answered “no” to that question.

“I didn’t feel that I needed to share that in any platform or in any questionnaire, because I was exonerated,” Garcia said this week. “I was acquitted, and it was, it should have been, expunged out, but they found it.”

A criminal complaint filed in Metro Court shows that Garcia’s then-husband, Orlando Williams, called Albuquerque police on Feb. 22, 2015, and said “his wife was upset and was throwing items at him” after confronting him about photos of women on his phone.

Williams said he was asleep when Garcia “began to punch and push him,” the complaint said. He also told police that Garcia struck him in the forehead with a “Bible holder.” An officer noted that Williams had a cut and swelling over his right eye.

“An additional call later came in from the wife who went to the neighbor’s house to call police,” the complaint said.

Williams also told police he pushed Garcia “in self defense,” causing her to fall onto the couch “where her knee struck her on the nose, causing it to bleed,” the complaint said.