Navajo man from Shiprock pleads guilty to federal second degree murder charge

            ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Zachariah Stanley Joe, 28, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Shiprock, N.M., pleaded guilty this morning in federal court in Albuquerque to a second degree murder charge.  Joe entered the guilty plea pursuant to a plea agreement which the parties agree that Joe should be sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment.

            Joe was arrested and was charged with killing a Navajo man in Shiprock, which is located on the Navajo Indian Reservation in San Juan County, N.M., on Jan. 3, 2019, in a criminal complaint that was filed on Jan. 4, 2019.

            During today’s proceedings, Joe pled guilty to a felony information charging him with second degree murder.  In his plea agreement, Joe admitted that on Jan. 3, 2019, he killed the victim with malice aforethought.  Joe admitted that, while he drinking alcohol, he got into a fight with the victim at a residence in Shiprock.  After locking the victim and another man out of the residence, Joe admitted arming himself with a kitchen knife and going out of the residence where he stabbed the victim, who was unarmed, approximately ten times in his chest, side, and neck.  The victim died shortly thereafter.

            Joe has been in federal custody since his arrest, and will remain detained pending his sentencing hearing.

            The Farmington office of the FBI investigated this case with assistance from the Shiprock office of the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety.  Assistant U.S. Attorney David P. Cowen is prosecuting the case.