White Cone Man Sentenced to Prison for Domestic Assault by Strangling

     PHOENIX, Ariz. – On November 12, 2019, Nathaniel Willie Cortez, 39, of White Cone, Arizona, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow to 24 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.  Cortez had previously pleaded guilty to one count of domestic assault by strangling or suffocation.

     Cortez admitted that he strangled the victim, with whom he was in a romantic relationship, in 2018.  The assault took place on the Navajo Nation Indian Reservation, where Cortez and the victim are tribal members.

     The investigation in this case was conducted by the FBI and the Navajo Nation Department of Criminal Investigations.  The prosecution was handled by Krista Wood and Amy Chang, Assistant U.S. Attorneys, District of Arizona, Phoenix.