A Taos jury found Cesar Garcia not guilty in a case where he allegedly stabbed a man with a screwdriver last January, while a plea hearing is set later this month in the case where he is charged with first degree murder for the fatal stabbing of Anthony Velasquez last February.

Garcia, 27, allegedly stabbed Velasquez, 32, to death outside of a laundromat in Ohkay Owingeh and law enforcement said he is connected to the deaths of two women in El Prado that happened shortly before the fatal stabbing, but he has not been charged in that case.

The Taos jury found Garcia, also known as Cesar Garcia-Tarango, not guilty of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon on Feb. 11, according to the jury verdict form.

Murder Case

The question of Garcia’s competency appears to have previously been raised in his murder case but was never raised in the Taos stabbing case. While a motion for a forensic evaluation was filed in August, it’s not clear if one was ever performed.

Shortly after a plea hearing was scheduled in Garcia’s murder case, he switched attorneys. That hearing is set for later this month.

Garcia has been held without bail on a charge of first degree murder since March 12.

Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s Deputy Patrick Martinez wrote in a criminal complaint that deputies arrested Garcia at a house near Jackrabbit Trail and they found a bloody knife in his pocket.

When Martinez looked at surveillance footage, he saw that Velasquez was sitting in the backseat of a car when Garcia started tampering with the rear driver side. Velasquez got out, Garcia ran around to the other side of the car, Velasquez tripped over the curb and fell, then he got back up and ran away, Martinez wrote.

Garcia stabbed toward him multiple times. Velasquez tried to get to the laundromat entrance while Garcia fled the area, he wrote.

Velasquez’s mother is suing the Ohkay laundromat and the owner for her son’s death, alleging they did nothing as the man who would become his alleged killer harassed customers for seven hours.