Navajo man sentenced to eight years in prison for assault in Indian Country

DOJ Press

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, announced that Meredith Yazzie, 51, of To’hajiilee, New Mexico, was sentenced on July 12 to eight years and four months in prison. Yazzie pleaded guilty on Sept. 13, 2021, to assault in Indian Country resulting in serious bodily injury and assaulting a federal officer.

In his plea agreement, Yazzie admitted that on May 25, 2020, he intentionally stabbed a man in the torso with a knife, causing a puncture to the man’s heart and lungs. During his apprehension on June 11, 2020, Yazzie raised a hatchet menacingly at a federal officer.  The assaults occurred on the Navajo Nation in Bernalillo County, New Mexico.

Upon his release from prison, Yazzie will be subject to three years of supervised release.

The FBI Albuquerque Field Office investigated this case with assistance from the Navajo Nation Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Joseph Spindle prosecuted the case.


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