Roswell man sentenced to 18 years for 2021 drunken-driving fatality in Albuquerque

Four days after Casino Salazar was charged in a 2021 drunken-driving crash in Roswell, he ran a red light at high speed in Northeast Albuquerque and slammed into another vehicle, killing a 58-year-old man.

A district judge on Thursday cited the timing of the two collisions as a key reason for sentencing Salazar to a maximum 18 years in prison for the crash that killed Kevin Barton at Montgomery and Morris NE.

Salazar, 21, of Roswell pleaded no contest in May to vehicular homicide, driving while intoxicated, and three counts of great bodily injury by vehicle in the Nov. 20, 2021, crash that killed Barton. The crash also seriously injured three passengers in Salazar’s vehicle.

DWI fatalities are “something we see all too frequently here,” 2nd Judicial District Judge Cindy Leos said shortly before handing down the sentence.

“Mr. Salazar’s case does stand out, mainly in the sense that he had the DWI in Roswell just several days before this tragic accident,” Leos said. “There just have to be stiff consequences for these types of behaviors.”

Barton was killed as he was turning north onto Morris from Montgomery NE, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. Salazar was driving over 90 mph on Montgomery and ran a red light when he T-boned Barton’s vehicle, it said.

On Nov. 16, 2021 — just four days before the crash that killed Barton — Salazar was arrested in Roswell for DWI, evading law enforcement and other charges after he allegedly crashed a car and attempted to flee from police, according to a criminal complaint filed in Chaves County Magistrate Court. He is scheduled for trial Nov. 28 in 5th Judicial District Court on those charges.

Salazar was released from jail the following day on condition that he remain in Chaves County and abstain from drinking alcohol or operating a vehicle.

Members of Barton’s family asked Leos to sentence Salazar to the maximum 18 years in prison.

“Kevin was a good father, a good son,” Barton’s father, Ray Barton, said at the sentencing hearing. “He wanted to help people, and that’s what he was doing until he was taken away so savagely.”

Salazar apologized to Barton’s family during his sentencing hearing, in which he appeared by Zoom from the Metropolitan Detention Center.

“I just wanted to say I’m sorry and I’m ashamed of what I did,” Salazar said. “I never went out thinking I was going to kill anybody, but it did happen. So I’m really sorry for that.”