Defendants in swastika branding charged

By Jan-Mikael Patterson
Navajo Times

WINDOW ROCK, Dec. 10, 2010

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(Special to the Times - Donovan Quintero)


Winifred Reuben, 68, holds a copy of the search warrant given to her when Navajo Nation Police raided her home June 2 because they suspected meth was made and sold there.



Federal hate-crime charges have been filed against three men accused of using a heated wire hanger to burn a swastika into the arm of a 22-year-old mentally challenged Navajo man.

Jury selection in the trial is set for April 4, 2011, in U.S. District Court in Santa Fe. Chief Judge Bruce D. Black is presiding over the case. 
The indictment includes details of the assault that were not made public when the incident was first reported in April.

The victim also had a swastika shaven into the hair on the back of his head along with "KKK" and "White Power" written on his body with markers, according to prosecutors.

The suspects are Paul Beebe, 27, William Hatch, 29, and Jesse Sanford, 25, all of Farmington. Each is charged with one count of conspiracy and one count of violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009.

Perpetrators who choose their victims because they are members of a particular group are subject to additional criminal charges under the act, which is named after a gay man who was killed by two admitted homophobes, and a mentally impaired black man who was killed by white men.



Beebe, Hatch and Sanford have also been charged in state court with assault and kidnapping.

The three were reportedly employed at McDonalds on Main Street in Farmington when the incident occurred.

The victim, Vincent Kee, of Navajo, N.M., was at the restaurant and was persuaded to go home with the men, where they abused him for several hours, according to his testimony.

Kee suffers from a variety of mental impairments due to Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, and is described as having a child-like trust in people.

Hatch is set to go to trial by mid-January on the state charges, according to Rick Tedrow, the district attorney in Farmington. The other two defendants are trying to get Kee disqualified as a witness based on his disability.

"The defense counsel for the other two, Beebe and Sanford, had filed a motion to dismiss the victim as a witness in the case for incompetency," Tedrow said. "We've met with the victim and we're confident that he is competent."

The assault took place in late April and arrests were made in early May. All three defendants pleaded not guilty to all charges.

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