Shiprock Woman Guilty in DUI Assault with Vehicle

Cornelia Tom Tapaha, 40, of Shiprock, N.M., was dragged into federal court this week in chains after a Santa Fe jury convicted her on assault charges stemming from a violent, alcohol-fueled attack on the Navajo Indian Reservation. The verdict, delivered after six days of harrowing testimony, marks a grim end to a case that exposed the brutal consequences of road rage and intoxication on tribal lands.

Tapaha, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, was indicted in June 2016 on charges of assault with a dangerous weapon — specifically a vehicle — and assault resulting in serious bodily injury. Prosecutors say the crimes occurred on July 8, 2015, in San Juan County, N.M., when Tapaha, behind the wheel, turned her car into a weapon during a heated argument with a passenger.

Courtroom evidence laid bare the horror of that night. Tapaha, the victim, and a third person were drinking alcohol while driving across the reservation. As tempers flared inside the cramped cabin, Tapaha pulled over. The victim and the other individual stepped out and began walking away. Instead of walking away, Tapaha stayed in the driver’s seat — and then accelerated, deliberately running over the victim.

The impact shattered bones and lives. The victim suffered broken ribs, a fractured collarbone, and a severely damaged ankle, requiring surgical intervention. Deep lacerations raked across the body, stitched shut in an emergency room miles away. Medical reports read like a battlefield triage log — all inflicted by someone who had no intention of stopping.

Now, Tapaha faces up to ten years in federal prison. The maximum penalty looms as a stark reckoning for using a 4,000-pound vehicle as a cudgel. Sentencing has not yet been scheduled, but federal prosecutors — Joseph Spindle and Novaline D. Wilson — are pushing for the harshest outcome under the law.

The case was jointly investigated by the FBI’s Farmington office and the Navajo Nation Department of Public Safety’s Shiprock unit. U.S. Attorney Damon P. Martinez, FBI Special Agent in Charge Terry Wade, and Navajo Nation Public Safety Director Jesse Delmar all confirmed the verdict, underscoring the federal-tribal cooperation needed to bring violent offenders to justice in remote, underserved regions of New Mexico.

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