ALBUQUERQUE — A former state education official testified Thursday that she felt pressured by former House Majority Leader Sheryl Williams Stapleton to steer a software contract toward Stapleton’s co-defendant, as testimony continued in Stapleton’s federal corruption trial.

Elaine Perea, a former Public Education Department official, testified that Stapleton told her in 2019 to purchase a statewide license for a software program called Cyberquest, owned by co-defendant Joseph Johnson. Perea said she instead issued a request for proposals; Johnson’s company, Robotics Management Learning Systems, did not submit a bid. Before the state awarded a contract to a different vendor, Perea said she was instructed to halt the procurement process. U.S. District Judge James O. Browning later limited her to yes-or-no answers following objections from Stapleton’s attorneys.

Also testifying this week was Rennette Apodaca, the original whistleblower in the state’s investigation of Stapleton, who described how Stapleton used her dual roles as legislator and Albuquerque Public Schools administrator to control federal Perkins Fund grant money prosecutors say she diverted for personal use.

Stapleton, 68, and Johnson, 74, are on trial in U.S. District Court on 37 federal counts, including conspiracy, bribery, mail fraud and money laundering. Prosecutors allege that from 2013 to 2020, Stapleton approved about $3.2 million in APS payments to Johnson’s company and received roughly $1.1 million in kickbacks. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Johnson supplied Stapleton with blank checks on the company account, which she used to write about 233 checks for her own benefit — including to a company and a restaurant she owned, and to a nonprofit she and Johnson operated together.

In opening statements Tuesday, Stapleton’s attorney, Ryan Villa, told jurors his client took money — but from Johnson, not taxpayers. “We’re not here to tell you that she is 100% innocent,” Villa said. Johnson’s attorney argued his client was a victim of Stapleton’s actions.

Stapleton, the first Black woman elected to the New Mexico Legislature, represented House District 19 in Albuquerque from 1994 to 2021, resigning days after federal agents searched her home. She was fired from her $79,000-a-year APS post the same year.

The trial, before Browning, is expected to run through Aug. 14. Stapleton also faces state charges in a separate case that has been postponed until October so it would follow the federal proceeding.