Arizona Woman Sentenced to Federal Prison for Assault Conviction in New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE – Maraintoinette Lynn Yazzie, 26, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Lukachukai, Ariz., was sentenced today to 24 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release for her assault conviction.  Yazzie also was 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 Sept. 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 Feb. 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 Sept. 9, 2014, to Count 1 of the indictment charging him with assault with a dangerous weapon.   On Dec. 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.