ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A 26-year-old woman has been sentenced to federal prison for her role in a brutal assault that left a Navajo man battered and robbed.
Maraintoinette Lynn Yazzie, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Lukachukai, Ariz., was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release for her assault conviction. Yazzie was also ordered to pay $7,557.00 in restitution to the victim of her crime.
The sentence was imposed based on a guilty plea to an assault with a dangerous weapon charge entered by Yazzie on September 17, 2014.
Yazzie and her brother, Antonio Yazzie, 22, also of Lukachukai, Ariz., were arrested in April 2014, on a criminal complaint charging them with attacking a Navajo man at his home in Tohlakai, N.M., on February 26, 2014. The two subsequently were indicted in May 2014, and charged with one count of assault with a dangerous weapon and two counts of robbery.
According to court filings, the siblings assaulted the victim by restraining him and striking him repeatedly in the face and head with a rock and a coffee mug. The two then robbed the victim of cash and his truck.
Antonio Yazzie pled guilty on September 9, 2014, to Count 1 of the indictment charging him with assault with a dangerous weapon. On December 9, 2014, he was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release.
This case was investigated by the Crownpoint office of the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul H. Spiers.
The victim of the crime suffered severe injuries and emotional trauma as a result of the attack. The Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety worked closely with federal authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Related Federal Cases
- Preston Marmolejo, Assault with a Dangerous Weapon, New Mexico 2013 · New Mexico
- Henderson Castillo, Assault with a Dangerous Weapon with Intent to Do Bodily Harm, New Mexico 2015 · Puerto Rico
- Cornelia Tom Tapaha, Assault with a Dangerous Weapon, New Mexico 2015 · Wyoming
- Corinne Delphine Kinzhuma, Assault with a Dangerous Weapon with Intent to Do Bodily Harm, New Mexico 2014 · New Mexico
- Jason K. Thompson, Assault by Strangulation and Assault with a Deadly Weapon, New Mexico 2025 · Texas
Key Facts
- State: New Mexico
- Category: Violent Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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