Court Cases | More than 3 years in prison for assault charge

LOS ANGELES

Christopher Lee Mann has been ordered by a federal judge in Prescott to three years and six months in prison after pleading guilty to assault with a dangerous weapon in Indian Country.

Mann, 46, of Tuba City, admitted in a plea agreement to stabbing a man in Tuba City in November of 2019. After stabbing him, the man escaped with Mann in pursuit. The man managed to prevent being stabbed again by running into a restaurant.

According to court records, the man was bleeding so bad that he could have died. He had to undergo surgery and has a scar from the attack.

The prosecution pointed out during the sentencing hearing that Mann was arrested numerous times, nine times alone in 2015. In none of these. cases, however, was he given a jail sentence.

In his defense, his public attorney told the court that his client was stabbed and was accosted by several assailants, whom he called “Tweakers.” He also stated that the victim may have been one of these assailants, or so Mann believed.

When the man was treated for that injury, he was also found to have meth in his system.

Mann also contended that he believed the victim in the November 2019 incident was armed when they began to argue. Mann was not arrested immediately for the stabbing. He was taken into custody by tribal police in February of 2020.

His defense attorney said Mann came down with COVID-19 twice during the time he was in federal custody and continues to suffer from upper respiratory issues and has problems breathing at times.

The judge was also told that Mann suffers from anxiety, depression and PTSD which was made worst when he spent the last six months in solitary confinement because of COVID-19.

The judge gave him credit for the 16 months he has already spent in jail. After his release he is ordered to be under supervised probation for three years.

Shooting at vehicle leads to 7-year sentence

A Dennehotso woman has been given a sentence of seven years in prison after pleading guilty to assault resulting in severe bodily injury.

Jerrychana Woolboy, 33, pleaded guilty to firing a shotgun at an occupied vehicle on the Arizona portion of the Navajo Reservation in January of 2021, striking a passenger in that vehicle and causing extensive injuries.

Given the serious injuries suffered by the victim, the prosecution had recommended to the judge a sentence of eight years.

“The nature and circumstances of this offense are remarkably serious,” the prosecution said in a sentencing memo. “Although Woolboy did not kill the victim, he has been essentially taken away. He cannot speak or take care of himself.”

Although she has a limited criminal history, the prosecution said, from 2015 to 2017 she had arrests for assault and domestic violence in the presence of a child. They also pointed out she had mental health and substance issues in her life which has caused incidences of violence.

In her sentencing memo, Woolboy gave her account of what happened that day.

She was at home with her three children when her cousin and one of his friends arrived at her house unannounced. She said her cousin was heavily intoxicated and belligerent. They had come to her home demanding money.

When she refused to give them any, she said they tried to force themselves into her home.

She yelled at that them to leave. This was met with profanity from her cousin who said he was leaving but threatened to return and physically harm her.

They left and got into a vehicle and began driving away. Woolboy opened her door and fired a shotgun at their vehicle, hitting her cousin. She said she didn’t mean to harm anyone. She wanted to send them a message not to come back.

She said she did not know he had been injured until Navajo Police showed up to interview her. She was devastated by the outcome of her actions.

“Although her actions were reckless, she was overcome by fear and adrenaline and not malice,” her public defender said.

Sentence of nearly 4 years for attacking family

Dion Curtis Manson has been sentenced to almost four years in federal prison after pleading guilty to assault with a dangerous weapon.

Manson 45, was accused of attacking D.M. with a shovel and a baseball bat causing serious injury during an incident that occurred on the Arizona portion of the Navajo Reservation in October of 2020.

Court records said he attacked members of his family with a baseball bat and a shovel.

Prosecutors said the attack on his family was not out of character.

“He has a lengthy history of threatening and attacking his family,” their report to the judge stated. “He has tried to start fights with his family, threatened to kill them, physically abused them and struck them with objects and his fists.”

His actions were so bad that his mother took out a protraction order against him a year before the offense.

The prosecution said the offense is serious enough to warrant a long sentence to protect family members.

In a memo to the judge before he was sentenced. Manson”s public defender admitted that this was a violent crime.

“Mr. Manson makes no excuses for his conduct and in no way attempts to justify it. However, he asks the court in mitigation the extent to which severe alcoholism and a deeply disadvantaged and traumatic childhood contributed to his mental stage at the time of the offense,” his attorney wrote.

He said he had been abusing alcohol from the when he was a teenager. He managed to become sober 10 years ago but started drinking again a few years later.

The judge also ordered him to be put under three years of supervised probation after his release from prison.

---