Navajo Woman Sentenced to Prison for Federal Felony Child Abuse Conviction
| U.S. Attorney’s Office February 10, 2012 |
ALBUQUERQUE—On February 9, 2012, a federal judge in Albuquerque, sentenced Katrina Martinez, 26, to 33 months in prison for her conviction for first-degree felony child abuse. Martinez, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Counselor, N.M., will serve three years of supervised release after completing her prison sentence.
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 first-degree child abuse in an indictment filed on April 13, 2011. According to the indictment, Martinez assaulted a child and caused him serious bodily 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.
Martinez pled guilty to count two of the indictment, charging her with felony child abuse on November 14, 2011, under a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. 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 bodily injuries. Martinez said that the collision occurred on BIA Route 474 in Apache Corner, N.M., within the Navajo Indian Reservation.
Under the terms of the plea agreement, counts one and three of the indictment were dismissed after Martinez was sentenced.
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 was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer M. Rozzoni.