Wakinyan Blindman, Assault on Intimate Partner, Nevada 2020

A 39-year-old man was sentenced to two years and six months in prison for strangling and suffocating a woman on the Pyramid Lake Reservation, located 35 miles northeast of Reno, Nevada. U.S. Attorney Nicholas A. Trutanich for the District of Nevada announced the sentence.

Wakinyan Blindman, a member of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, pleaded guilty to one count of assault of an intimate partner by strangulation or suffocation within Indian Country in November 2020. U.S. District Judge Larry R. Hicks presided over the sentencing hearing.

According to court documents and admissions made in court, on July 31, 2020, Blindman assaulted a woman on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe’s Reservation. He hit her with a closed fist, strangled her, and suffocated her by shoving dirt and weeds into her mouth. As a result of the assault, the woman suffered serious bodily injury.

The case was investigated by the FBI with assistance by the Pyramid Lake Tribal Police Department and the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team. Assistant U.S. Attorney Penelope Brady prosecuted the case.

Blindman’s crime is part of a larger issue of domestic violence on Native American reservations. Project Veronica, an initiative launched by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada in August 2020, aims to bring together law enforcement agencies, tribes, victims of domestic violence, and local and state government within Nevada to curb domestic violence and sexual violence. The project is named in honor of Veronica Caldwell, a local victim of domestic violence who lost her life at the hands of her husband in 2015.

For more information on domestic violence or to get help, visit the National Domestic Violence Hotline website at https://www.thehotline.org/ or call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233).

The case highlights the importance of addressing domestic violence in Native American communities. It also underscores the need for increased resources and support for victims of domestic violence on reservations.

Related Federal Cases