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At least half a dozen high-ranking Navajo government officials have been arrested on charges ranging from drunk driving to domestic violence in the past 22 months.
To date, only one of the domestic violence charges is being prosecuted and only one of the alcohol-related charges has come before a judge.
The cases involve both elected and appointed officials, and most have languished for weeks, months and, in some cases, more than a year without resolution. All but two never reached court in the first place.
Is it chance, or are Navajo Nation officials getting preferential treatment from tribal courts, prosecutors and police?
According to arrest reports filed by the Navajo Police, the most recent cases are:
- March 5, Council Delegate Willie Tracey Jr. (Ganado/Kinlichee) was arrested for drunk driving after failing all three field sobriety tests. The case has not come before a judge.
- Feb. 26, Norma J. Noble, wife of Delegate Larry Noble (Jeddito/Low Mountain/Steamboat), filed for a protection order against her husband in Window Rock District Court following an encounter at their home west of Burnside, Ariz., that deteriorated into a shoving match.
She attempted to file a police complaint at the Ganado substation but no one was available to take her report, she said in her request.
The next day, Larry Noble, who is currently living elsewhere, countered by seeking a protection order against his wife.
As of press time Wednesday, Judge T.J. Holgate had written orders granting both requests but had not signed them, meaning the orders are not yet in effect. - On Feb. 24, Gilbert Brown, staff assistant for President Joe Shirley Jr., was arrested for assault and battery involving his wife and stepdaughter.
In her request for a protection order, his wife Pauline Brown claimed that her husband said he "can get away with it because he knew people."
Brown has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled for a pretrial conference April 8 in Window Rock. He resigned his position, according to Shirley spokesman George Hardeen, but this was previously decided and is not related to his arrest.
- On Feb. 20, Delegate Curran Hannon (Oak Springs/St. Michaels) was arrested after an altercation with former delegate LaVern Wagner (Pueblo Pintado/Torreon/Whitehorse Lake).
He was accused of hitting her after using an axe to break the passenger door window on his own pickup truck, in which she was sitting.
Police also reported that an 18-pack of Miller Light beer was found on the rear floorboard of Hannon's vehicle. He was released on a $500 bond and told to appear at a preliminary hearing March 7, but tribal prosecutors have not filed a complaint.
- On Aug. 20, 2007, police took a report alleging that Casey Begay, director of the Capital Improvement Program office, had lost his temper with a female employee and grabbed her by the throat.
The woman, who declined medical attention, reported the incident to Begay's boss, Division of Community Development Director Arbin Mitchell.
According to police, a witness to the incident heard Begay yelling at the employee but did not see him grab her throat. No charges were filed and Begay remains at his post.
"It's a closed case. I didn't do it," Begay said Monday. "Why are you writing about it?"
- On March 3, 2007, Delegate Omer Begay Jr. (Cornfields/Greasewood Springs/Klagetoh/Wide Ruins) was arrested for hitting his wife in the face several times and for possession of alcohol on the reservation.
Police confiscated numerous containers of alcohol including open beer containers from Begay's home, where the lawmaker was found "passed out."
There was a third-party witness to the physical assault and liquor violations, but the tribal prosecutor did not pursue the assault charges.
- On May 6, 2006, police arrested Virgil Brown, then director of the Ethics and Rules Office, for allegedly hitting a female passenger repeatedly as he was driving between Gallup and Black Hat, N.M., where police stopped him and arrested him.
The couple's 14-month-old child was buckled in a safety seat in the back seat of the vehicle and witnessed the episode.
Police had been alerted by another motorist, who told police he witnessed the assault while driving the vehicle behind Brown's and would testify as a witness.
Brown resigned 11 months later, in April 2007, after some residents of T—hajiilee Chapter filed an ethics complaint against him - the first against a sitting ethics director - in an unrelated matter.
Brown currently works as legal counsel for the tribe's child support enforcement program.
No charges filed
As of March 19, no complaints had been filed in a Navajo Nation court against delegates Tracey, Noble, and Hannon, or appointed officials Casey Begay and Virgil Brown.
District court staff in Dilkon, Ariz., confirm that the only complaint filed against Omer Begay in the March 3, 2007, incident was a liquor violation, to which he pleaded no contest and paid a $50 fine.
Chief Prosecutor Roger Shirley denies that elected officials and high-ranking administrators receive preferential treatment from his office, and implied that the problem is in the police department.
Shirley said his office cannot file charges without police reports.
He said in three cases - those involving Hannon, Omer Begay and Virgil Brown - his office decided not to prosecute because the victim recanted or did not want to testify.
The tribe's two top law enforcement officers dispute Shirley's suggestion that police are not forwarding the arrest reports on influential people.
Public Safety Director Samson Cowboy and Police Chief Jim Benally said all arrest reports are hand-carried to the prosecutor's office, which is located next to the Window Rock police station.
It is up to the prosecutor's office to choose which cases to pursue, they said. Additionally, the prosecutors can walk over to the police department and obtain a report if they cannot locate a copy in their office, said Police Lt. Henry Moore.
During the past two years, domestic violence has become recognized as a public health crisis on the Navajo Reservation, prompting efforts that range from attempts to toughen laws - so far unsuccessful - increase public awareness and provide more shelter services.
Cowboy asserted that the police department takes incidents involving domestic violence very seriously.
He pointed to an April 13, 2006, press conference with President Joe Shirley Jr. and first lady Vikki Shirley that announced additional police training for domestic violence cases.
At that time, Cowboy and Benally said they informed their staff that the police department was launching a zero-tolerance policy regarding domestic violence.
The ongoing police training includes techniques to recognize and investigate stalking, cyberstalking, strangulation, child abuse, sexual assault and rape.
No excuses
Despite the new emphasis and tools to fight domestic violence, those who work with the victims say the Navajo Nation doesn't take domestic violence seriously.
Shelena Etsitty, a legal advocate for Ama Doo Alchini Bighan Inc., a nonprofit domestic violence shelter in Chinle, bases her perception on one year of experience with ADABI and two years with a Flagstaff shelter.
Etsitty said it's common for victims of abuse to back down from confronting their tormenters.
But, she said, prosecution can still take place if other evidence exists such as another witness and physical evidence of injury.
Photos taken by police, or a doctor's report, may provide concrete evidence even if the victim has decided not to cooperate.
The arresting police officer also can be called as a witness, as happens often in state courts.
Unlike the Arizona state courts, the Navajo Nation's domestic violence law allows victims to recant their testimony before appearing in court, Etsitty said.
But tribal courts also are starting to address the complex nature of toxic relationships, she noted.
Chinle District Court Judge Geraldine Benally has started a new process that takes into account the impact on children growing up where abuse is present, which is damaging even if the abuse is not directed at them personally, Etsitty said.
She said the Chinle judge has recognized that if children are present, they are victims too. Benally has been ordering victims and perpetrators into counseling to help them understand what they are putting their children through.
"They tend to be the forgotten victim," Etsitty said. And, she added, there is a high correlation between witnessing abuse as a child, and becoming involved in it as an adult - whether as victim or perpetrator.
Like the chief prosecutor, Etsitty alluded to problems with police performance in domestic violence cases. She said many ADABI clients have reported delays of up to a month in obtaining police reports.
Etsitty charged that officers who have been trained on domestic violence sometimes still exhibit insensitive and inappropriate behavior.
This includes complaining about the victims, discuss the victim's statements with the perpetrator, and releasing confidential information about those taking shelter at ADABI, she said.
Standards 'squishy'
Tribal standards of behavior for top leaders are vague, at least when it comes to how they treat their loved ones.
Official conduct is another matter. On Jan. 4 the council's Ethics and Rules Committee unanimously approved a new set of rules titled, "Regulations and Standards of Conduct for Elected Officials of the Navajo Nation," which expanded the existing tribal code on ethics.
The tribe is paying to educate the lawmakers on the amendments at a four-day workshop, to be held next month at the Radisson Hotel and Resort in Albuquerque.
Previously, the ethics law was focused on preventing financial malfeasance by tribal officials and employees.
The new law states that elected officials, as representatives of the Navajo Nation, should conduct themselves in a manner that reflects creditably on the Navajo people and their government.
It also addresses drug and alcohol abuse, courtesy towards tribal employees, conflicts of interest, confidential information, abuse of office, unauthorized compensation, and sexual harassment.
But it doesn't specifically address domestic violence, said Raymond Etcitty, the former chief legislative counsel who resigned Friday. Etcitty had a bumper sticker on the wall behind his desk that reads, "A Real Man Doesn't Hit."
Interviewed prior to his resignation, Etcitty said the ethics law allows anyone to file a complaint against an elected official with the Ethics and Rules Office, which then investigates to determine if the council's Ethics and Rules Committee should hold a hearing.
The code of conduct mandates that a complaint be filed within 10 days of an incident. The ethics law allows up to four years to file a complaint.
If the E&R committee finds that an elected official violated the code of conduct, he or she faces the penalties set forth in the ethics law, which may include a written reprimand, suspension, removal from office, disqualification from public office for five years, and restitution.
Etcitty noted that voters could also take matters into their hands by recalling an elected official.
And that might be the only disciplinary action that actually occurs, even after an elected or high-ranking official is arrested.
In two of the cases cited above, including that involving the assault charge against the former ethics director Virgil Brown, the tribal prosecutor took no action despite physical evidence and third-party statements that a crime had occurred.
And efforts to make domestic violence a criminal violation, rather than a civil offense, so far have been rejected by the tribal council.
At press time Wednesday, the Navajo Times also had attempted to reach the following people for comment on the Shirley administration's domestic violence prevention initiative, but had not received a response: Shirley appointee Arbin Mitchell and first lady Vikki Shirley.