WHITE MOUNTAIN APACHE MAN SENTENCED
TO 44 MONTHS PRISON FOR STABBING

            PHOENIX, Ariz. –Nathan Lavender, 29, of Whiteriver, Ariz., and a member of the White Mountain Apache Indian Tribe, was sentenced on January 9, 2012, to 44 months in prison by U.S. District Court Judge G. Murray Snow for Assault with a Dangerous Weapon.  The case was tried in federal court in October 2011. 

            The evidence at trial showed that in August 2009, the defendant stabbed another male tribal member three times in the chest.  The defendant then fled and the victim ran to a nearby home where residents called police.  The victim was later flown to Scottsdale Osborn Hospital to undergo surgery for the stab wounds.  The Bureau of Indian Affairs located the defendant in November 2009, at which time he admitted stabbing the victim. 

            The investigation in this case was conducted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the White Mountain Apache Police Department.  The prosecution was handled by Jennifer E. Green and John Boyle, Assistant United States Attorneys, District of Arizona, Phoenix.

CASE NUMBER:                  CR-10-8089-PHX-GMS
RELEASE NUMBER:           2012-002 (Lavender)

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For more information on the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/az