Arrest warrant filed for Santa Fe man accused of beating woman
May 11—An arrest warrant has been issued for a Santa Fe man accused of violently beating his girlfriend and trapping her in her home Saturday before fleeing in the woman's car.
A criminal complaint filed in Santa Fe County Magistrate Court says David Trinidad, 33, faces charges of first-degree kidnapping, assault against a household member, aggravated battery, false imprisonment and unlawful taking of a motor vehicle. Trinidad's girlfriend told police she had been at a neighbor's home that afternoon when Trinidad arrived, grabbed her and forced her back to her home, an arrest warrant affidavit says. He then closed the door and placed a small piece of furniture in front of it, and told the woman she was not allowed to leave, she said.
Trinidad and the girlfriend argued, according to the affidavit, and then he began beating her, saying he was going to kill her and himself.
Eventually, the woman was able to escape and call police from a friend's house, the affidavit says.
Meanwhile, Trinidad drove off in her car.
The woman was taken to a local hospital to be treated for her injuries, the affidavit says.
Trinidad recently was released from jail after dismissal of charges including aggravated stalking, false imprisonment and battery in a separate case. Court records show he was found mentally incompetent to stand trial.
Trinidad has a lengthy history of violent criminal charges, some stemming from his youth, according to court records and news reports.
He was one of six defendants accused in a hate crime case in 2005. All of them pleaded guilty to their roles in the attack authorities called a gay-bashing, in which one young man was beaten into a coma and another was injured.
The case was the state's first test of a 2003 hate crime law.
Trinidad, who was 17 at the time of the attack and the only juvenile accused in the case, faced adult sanctions after pleading guilty to charges of aggravated battery causing great bodily harm, battery, conspiracy and criminal damage to property.
The New Mexican reported in April 2006 that at the time he was sentenced, he already had been committed to a juvenile facility for two years for violating his probation stemming from the rape of a 4-year-old boy.
A state district judge sentenced him to a 10-month sex offender-treatment program for adults and five years of probation in the hate crime case.
