Gallup Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Involuntary Manslaughter Charge

ALBUQUERQUE – Calvin Frank Joe, 41, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Gallup, N.M., pleaded guilty this morning to a federal involuntary manslaughter charge.  Under the terms of his plea agreement, Joe will be sentenced to 42 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release.

Joe was arrested on Feb. 19, 2014, on an indictment charging him with second degree murder.  The indictment alleged that Joe killed another Navajo man on the Navajo Indian Reservation in McKinley County, N.M., on April 18, 2013.

During today’s hearing, Joe entered a guilty plea to a felony information charging him with involuntary manslaughter.  In his plea agreement, Joe admitted assaulting the victim by striking, beating and wounding him, and acknowledged that the assault resulted in the victim’s death.

Joe has been in federal custody since his arrest and remains detained pending his sentencing hearing, which has yet to be scheduled.

            The case was investigated by the Gallup office of the FBI and the Crownpoint office of the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle T. Nayback is prosecuting the case.