Yazzie family finally experiences justice served

By Ann Willow
Special to the Times

FARMINGTON – Justice has arrived for Navajo homicide victim Jamie Lynette Yazzie.

Yazzie disappeared from Piñon, Arizona, on June 30, 2019. On the Hopi Reservation, Her body was found seven miles away on Nov. 23, 2021. She had been shot in the back of her head.

Tre James of Piñon was arrested on Aug. 4, 2022, and indicted on nine counts of domestic violence by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona.
Counts 1 and 2 were charges of first-degree murder of Yazzie and discharging a firearm concerning her death.

Counts 3 through 9 were domestic violence charges for assaults on three other women between 2018 and 2019: kidnapping, suffocation, strangulation, assault with a dangerous weapon, and assault resulting in substantial bodily injury.

On Sept. 12, James went on trial for all nine counts in Arizona District Court – Phoenix – prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sharon Sexton and Jennifer LaGrange.
Albuquerque attorney Darlene Gomez, pro bono private counsel for Yazzie’s family, was there throughout the trial. On Sept. 27, Gomez stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the family as the jury returned to the courtroom with the verdict – guilty on all counts – ending the nightmare of Yazzie’s murder.

Victory

This was a victory for Yazzie, her family, James’s other victims, Gomez, and the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Relatives movement.

“It’s a good feeling. It’s amazing,” said Yazzie’s mother, Ethelene Denny. “We’ve gone this far, and I thought it would never come. But today’s the day, and I am so happy.”

According to Gomez, James is facing life imprisonment for Yazzie’s first-degree murder and another life sentence for the remaining eight charges. Sentencing is scheduled to take place Jan. 29, 2024.

Gomez said Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sexton and LaGrange thanked her and Yazzie’s family for their efforts over the past four years.

“He (James) deserves it. He had no remorse in court. Didn’t look like he cared,” said Denny.

Denny hoped this trial would encourage other MMIWR families to fight for justice.

“I’m pretty sure this will help a lot of other families. A matter of coming forward and putting an effort in it. Not giving up no matter what. It was a long four years, but we did it,” said Denny.

“And we did it alone,” said Gomez. “We didn’t get any help from the Navajo Nation. If the Navajo Nation doesn’t support their women, how can we expect mainstream American to support them?”

Denny said it was MMIWR victims and families that supported them.

“Hopefully, the Navajo Nation will realize they will have to put in effort” to support MMIWR victims and families.

“We’ve put a lot of miles on our moccasins,” said Gomez. “And not on a paved road. We’ve taken the Red Road with potholes and washed-out washes.”

Gomez is a prolific advocate and activist for the MMIWR movement spreading across the U.S. and Canada. In addition to MMIWR pro bono clients, Gomez organizes MMIWR rallies to bring awareness of the plight of missing and murdered Native people and their families; is a member of the MMIWR Task Force for New Mexico; general counsel for Medicine Wheel Ride, a non-profit Indigenous women’s motorcycle organization; and is a guardian ad litem and youth attorney for abused and neglected children.

Gomez’s interest in MMIWR began in 2000 as a University of New Mexico Law School student. Interning with the U.S. District Attorney’s Office in Farmington, Gomez assisted with the case of Betty Lee, a Navajo woman murdered by Farmington resident Robert Fry, a serial killer who targeted Native people. Her story and his arrest were featured on Forensic Files.

A year later, Gomez’s childhood friend went missing.

Read the full story in the Sept. 28 edition of the Navajo Times.

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