Mescalero Apache Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Assault Charges

ALBUQUERQUE – Corinne Delphine Kinzhuma, 30, an enrolled member of the Mescalero Apache Nation who resides in Mescalero, N.M., pleaded guilty yesterday afternoon in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to assault charges.

Kinzhuma was arrested on Feb. 26, 2015, on a criminal complaint charging her with assaulting a Mescalero Apache man on Dec. 12, 2014, by stabbing him repeatedly in neck, chest, arm and cheek.  The assault occurred on the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation in Otero County, N.M.  As a result of the assault, the victim required a chest tube and admission to the surgical intensive care unit for continuous monitoring of his neck wound; he also suffered a fracture of the left radius.

Kinzhuma was subsequently indicted on June 17, 2015, and charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, a knife, with intent to do bodily harm and assault resulting in serious bodily injury on Dec. 12, 2014, in Indian Country in Otero County.  During yesterday’s proceedings, Kinzhuma entered a guilty plea to the indictment without the benefit of a plea agreement.

At sentencing, Kinzhuma faces a statutory maximum of ten years in federal prison.  Kinzhuma remains in custody pending a sentencing hearing which has yet to be scheduled.

This case was investigated by the Las Cruces office of the FBI and the Mescalero Agency of the BIA’s Office of Justice Services and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron O. Jordan of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office.