ALBUQUERQUE - Mark Patrick Eddy, 45, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Chi-Chi-Tah, N.M., pleaded guilty this morning to a felony information charging him with assault resulting in serious bodily injury, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Steven C. Yarbrough and Director John Billison of the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety.
Eddy was arrested on Jan. 14, 2014, on a criminal complaint charging him with assault with a dangerous weapon and assault resulting in serious bodily injury. According to the indictment, Eddy assaulted his girlfriend, a Navajo woman, on June 21, 2013, at a residence located on the Navajo Indian Reservation. According to the criminal complaint, Eddy kicked the victim in the head with his cowboy boots causing a laceration to the right temple of the victim’s head that required medical attention.
Today, Eddy admitted assaulting the victim, his intimate partner, by throwing her to the ground and kicking her in the head causing a laceration that required medical attention.
Eddy has been in federal custody since his arrest and remains detained pending his sentencing hearing, which has yet to be scheduled. Under the terms of his plea agreement, Eddy will be sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison followed by a term of supervised release to be determined by the court.
This case was investigated by the Crownpoint office of the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety and is being prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney David Adams. The case was brought pursuant to the Tribal Special Assistant U.S. Attorney (Tribal SAUSA) Pilot Project in the District of New Mexico which is sponsored by the Justice Department’s Office on Violence Against Women under a grant administered by the Pueblo of Laguna. The Tribal SAUSA Pilot Project seeks to train tribal prosecutors in federal law, procedure and investigative techniques to increase the likelihood that every viable violent offense against Native women is prosecuted in either federal court or tribal court, or both. The Tribal SAUSA Pilot Project was largely driven by input gathered from annual tribal consultations on violence against women, and is another step in the Justice Department's on-going efforts to increase engagement, coordination and action on public safety in tribal communities.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
