Navajo Woman Pleads Guilty to Felony Child Abuse
| U.S. Attorney’s Office November 14, 2011 |
ALBUQUERQUE—Katrina Martinez, 26, pled guilty to one count of felony child abuse in Albuquerque federal court this afternoon under a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Under the terms of the plea agreement, Martinez will be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 33 months and not more than 41 months to be followed by not more than three years of supervised release. Martinez, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Counselor, N.M., is in federal custody and remains detained pending her sentencing hearing, which has yet to be scheduled.
U.S. Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales said that Martinez was charged with one count of assault resulting in serious bodily injury and two counts of child abuse in an indictment filed on April 13, 2011. According to the indictment, Martinez assaulted a child and caused him serious injury on January 1, 2008, in a location within the Navajo Indian Reservation. The indictment charged Martinez with endangering the life and welfare of the child she assaulted as well as a second child on that same date.
During today’s proceedings, Martinez pled guilty to count two of the indictment, charging her with felony child abuse. In her plea agreement, Martinez admitted that, on January 1, 2008, she was driving while intoxicated. The passengers in her vehicle included her common-law husband, who was in the front passenger seat, and her two children, a 3-year-old and a 2-year-old, who were in the back seat. Martinez admitted that, after a brief stop, she drove off at a high rate of speed and lost control of her vehicle, causing it to flip over a number of times. Her 3-year-old son was thrown from the vehicle and sustained serious injuries. Martinez said that the collision occurred on BIA Route 474 in Apache Corner, N.M., within the Navajo Indian Reservation.
The case was investigated by the Navajo Nation Department of Public Safety, Crownpoint Division, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the Sandoval County Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer M. Rozzoni.