Man pleads not guilty in Diné woman’s death

By Krista Allen
Special to the Times

CAMERON, Ariz.

A Kentucky man Monday pleaded not guilty in the stabbing death of a Diné woman over the weekend in Florence, Kentucky, according to the Associated Press.

Jesse A. James. Courtesy of the Florence Police Department.

His bail was set at $1 million and he was appointed a public defender.

Jesse A. James, 32, of Burlington, Kentucky, was arrested at Rave Cinemas inside Florence Mall Saturday after movie theater employees called police because a man at the cinema was acting paranoid and strangely. The man gave police officers two fake names before they determined that it was James and then arrested him for false identifying information and identity theft.

Under police questioning at the city police department, James allegedly admitted to stabbing and killing 26-year-old Amanda Dakota Webster, a Diné woman from Na’ni’á Hasání, in his Home2 Suites hotel room. James is charged with murder and tampering with physical evidence, according to Florence police.