Former MDC officer sentenced to two years in fatal crash

A man was sentenced to two years in prison Tuesday for leaving the scene of a 2024 vehicle accident that killed a man at an Albuquerque dog park, court records show.

Christopher Facey, 34, initially was charged with second-degree murder for driving a truck that struck and killed the husband of a woman Facey was having an affair with during a confrontation at the park.

Facey pleaded guilty on Dec. 12 to a lesser charge of knowingly leaving the scene of an accident that resulted in the death of Guadalupe Maldonado in January 2024.

Second Judicial District Judge Bruce Fox could have sentenced Facey up to six years in prison at a sentencing hearing Tuesday.

Facey’s attorney, Lisa Torraco, said she argued that Facey should have avoided prison because Maldonado’s death was an accident.

“The evidence was very clear that this was an accident,” Torraco said Tuesday in a phone interview. “Facey’s responsibility was that he didn’t stay and render aid” as required by law. Facey feared for his life from others at the scene, “so he ran,” she said. “He had good reason to be afraid.”

A former Metropolitan Detention Center officer, Facey was sentenced to probation in 2018 after the then-officer beat an inmate at MDC, a case that also ended in a reported $70,000 settlement with Bernalillo County, according to previous news reports.

In 2021, he was charged in a domestic violence incident in which he allegedly beat his girlfriend, but the charges were dropped when she didn’t cooperate.

On Jan. 13, 2024, police responded to a fatal crash at the Santa Fe Village Dog Park, near Unser and Montaño NW, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.

A witness told police that the driver had fled and Maldonado was taken to a hospital by his wife. Maldonado died at the hospital.

Maldonado’s wife told police she had been married since 2017 but was having an affair with Facey, who she worked with at MDC for more than two years, the complaint said.

The wife told police she met Facey at the park when Maldonado drove up, resulting in a confrontation between the two men, the complaint said.

As Facey was leaving, Maldonado stepped in front of Facey’s truck, the wife told police. Facey “accelerated at hit Guadalupe (Maldonado) with the truck,” the complaint said.