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Shiprock man sentenced to prison for federal voluntary manslaughter conviction

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ALBUQUERQUE – Charley Joe, Jr., 68, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Shiprock, N.M., was sentenced Oct. 3, in federal court in Albuquerque, to 78 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for his voluntary manslaughter conviction.

Joe was arrested in September 2016, on a criminal complaint charging him with murder for killing a Navajo man on the Navajo Indian Reservation in San Juan County, N.M., on Sept. 15, 2016.  According to the complaint, Joe killed the victim by repeatedly striking him with an ax.

Joe was indicted on Oct. 12, 2016, and was charged with voluntary manslaughter on Sept. 15, 2016, on the Navajo Indian Reservation in San Juan County. On March 23, Joe pled guilty to the indictment without the benefit of a plea agreement.

This case was investigated by the Farmington office of the FBI and the Shiprock office of the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elaine Y. Ramirez and Kristopher N. Houghton.