Talamante enters not guilty plea
Mother says son admitted dragging man through streets, documents say

By Leslie Wood
Staff Writer

GALLUP — John Talamante looked to the ground as a magistrate court judge read aloud the multiple charges pending against him. Then he pleaded not guilty.

Judge John Carey arraigned the 24-year-old on charges of aggravated assault, aggravated battery and kidnapping on Monday afternoon. If convicted, Talamante could face a total of 24 years in prison.

Talamante was arrested on Friday afternoon in connection with the brutal dragging of 32-year-old Fausto Arellano for about two-thirds of a mile down a paved Gallup roadway.

Carey set Talamante's bond at $500,000 cash only and entered a not-guilty plea into court records on his behalf.

According to a statement of probable cause filed in McKinley County Magistrate Court, Roxanne Spicer, Talamante's mother, told detectives that her son called March 29 asking for money to leave Gallup.

After getting no response to questions of why he needed to leave, Spicer asked him if he was involved in Arellano's dragging. Talamante replied "yes," according to the statement.

When Spicer asked Talamante how he could do something like that, he told her that "it was because of drugs and it was F. Arellano's own fault," the document states.

This is in direct conflict with Talamante's friend and co-worker Amanda Palacios' statement to the Independent, in which she says Talamante was at her residence in Gamerco the entire night of the incident.

Due to the publicity surrounding the case, detention center officials used portable metal detectors to check court observers for weapons before they entered the courtroom.

Jail Warden Donna Goodrich said increased security measures are procedure in cases similar to Talamante's.

"It's just so high-profile," Goodrich said. "Within the population here, he might not be too popular."

Because additional arrests are expected in connection with the dragging, Goodrich said a suspect, who has not yet been arrested, might view a public hearing as an opportunity to harm Talamante.

"We just wanted to be safe," she said.

Arellano sustained burns to 50 percent of his body and lost portions of skin as a result of the Easter morning dragging; however, he was upgraded to serious condition last weekend after remaining in critical condition for nearly a week at the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque.

Detectives have yet to question the single father of two, who remains under heavy sedation. Police Chief Sylvester Stanley said investigators hope to interview Arellano within the week.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.