Gallup man admits to killing baby
Tanya Brazil
Staff Writer
GALLUP — A Gallup man pleaded guilty to second-degree murder
this week after confessing that he violently shook his 3-month-old
son to death in early April.
Joe Baca Chavis, 20, had been charged with first-degree child abuse
resulting in death after his infant son, Damian Burrola, died in an
Albuquerque hospital from what doctors said was "Shaken Baby
Syndrome."
The day the baby died, Chavis' neighbor and cousin, Heather Williams,
noticed the baby did not look well and made Chavis take Damian to
Rehobeth McKinley Hospital.
When doctors decided to transfer the child to the University of New
Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque, Chavis said he was going to get extra
diapers, bottles and clothes and never returned.
Chavis initially told police he wasn't with the baby the day it died.
Chavis said his grandmother had been looking after the child that
day.
The prosecutor in the case, District Attorney Mary Helen Baber, said
child abuse cases remain a priority in her office because "victims
are helpless and innocent and they need our protection."
"Shaken Baby Syndrome is a horrible, violent act committed by
someone who is in a rage," she said. "It does not happen
by falling out of a car seat or rolling out of bed. These types of
injuries don't even happen in car accidents. This was no accident."
Information Baber acquired from the forensic pathologist indicates
Damian sustained a massive brain injury that caused the
plates of the skull to separate. He also suffered retinal hemorrhaging,
or bleeding in the eyes, which is a classic indicator of "Shaken
Baby Syndrome."
Autopsy photos showed the sutures of Damian's skull were separated,
as well as huge internal bruises, some at least two inches in length,
on the baby's head.
"If the baby had survived, he would have been blind and permanently
brain damaged," Baber said. "And I can only speculate as
to what sort of physical consequences there might have been as a result
of spinal damage."
Baber gave credit to District Attorney Investigator Richard Malone
and Gallup Police Detectives Jonathan Avery and Matt Wright for bringing
the case together.
Chavis, whose trial date was set for Feb. 1, was facing a mandatory
18-year sentence for child abuse resulting in death. The plea bargain
reduces the sentence to 15 years, but Chavis first must provide a
statement to a child abuse expert and district attorney investigator
explaining how he was responsible for the baby's death. Sentencing
will follow in a couple of weeks, Baber said.
"I think it is the rare individual who actually intends to kill
their child," Baber said. "But people do intend to do the
shaking, and it's that horrible, violent shaking that causes the permanent
injuries and sometimes even death."
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Man sentenced for torturing pregnant
woman
Diné Bureau
GALLUP — A Ramah man has been given more than four years in federal
prison for torturing and assaulting his pregnant girlfriend with a
knife while apparently trying to cut his baby out of her stomach.
Jimmy Raphaelito, 35, was given a sentence of 51 months in prison
and three years of supervised release for the assault with a dangerous
weapon, which took place on the Navajo Reservation.
Raphaelito had plead guilty last August for assaulting Elaine Martine
with a 13-inch knife.
At the time, Martine was three months pregnant with Raphaelito's baby.
When Raphaelito told her that he wanted to cut the baby out, Martine
told him she did not want to be part of any satanic ritual, according
to the U.S. Attorney's office.
Raphaelito then began striking her with his fist and hitting her over
the head with a metal weight, knocking her unconscious.
After tying her to his bed with wire, he then sliced her with the
knife to the chest area "several times horizontally and vertically
and inflicted 10-inch cuts on her . . . thighs," said a press
release from the U.S. Attorney's office.
"He also used matches to burn the hair on her private area,"
the release stated.
"Raphaelito then went outside to get a chain saw. When it wouldn't
start, he forced Martine, who was naked except for a pair of socks,
outside and put her inside a dog cage. She managed to escape when
he let her out to use the bathroom and ran about a mile to her mother's
home," the release stated.
She was then taken to the hospital for treatment.
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Redmond 'Rolling across New Mexico'
Tanya Brazil
Staff Writer
GALLUP — Former U.S. Congressman Bill Redmond is
roller-skating down the campaign trail to what he hopes will be the
U.S. Senate.
Calling his announcement tour "Rolling Across New Mexico,"
Redmond is campaigning at 10 roller rinks across the state as a symbol
of his dedication to families and children.
This Friday, he was seen showing off some pretty impressive
moves at Skate Connection in Gallup. "They've got great music,
and the staff is awesome," he said.
Redmond, a Republican, served part of one term as a
congressman before he was defeated by Tom Udall, a Democrat.
Redmond said he wants to continue the work he started
in the U.S. House of Representatives concerning housing for New Mexicans,
particularly Native Americans, and veteran's issues.
"One of the important issues for veterans is protection for the
American flag," he said. "My opponent, Sen. Jeff Bingaman,
voted three times to protect flag burning."
"We have 170,000 veterans in New Mexico, and it's an important
issue to them. And to vote against protecting the flag is to turn
a deaf ear to the veterans."
Uranium mining was another issue Redmond said was important in New
Mexico. As a congressman, he said, he introduced legislation that
would expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to include above-ground
miners and millers and not just miners who worked underground. That
bill never passed the House.
Education is yet another issue Redmond believes in strongly. He is
an advocate of bonus pay for teacher's who excel at their jobs, block
grants going straight to schools and down-sizing the bureaucracy in
Washington, D.C.
"I believe parents, teachers and local school boards know what's
best for kids more than the bureaucrats in Washington," he said.
One of Redmond's supporters, Jim Whitfield, a kidney specialist in
Gallup, remembered meeting the senatorial hopeful back when he was
unknown. After the doctor spoke at a medical hearing about the diabetes
problem on the reservation, Redmond introduced himself.
Interested in speaking to Whitfield about the diabetes
problem, Redmond drove a beat-up car through dirt roads in the middle
of a snow storm to get to the doctor's house.
Whitfield said Redmond stayed for three hours, and they
hardly talked about politics. Before Redmond left, the doctor's daughter
played the piano and they all sang Christian hymns.
"He's a very real person. That's really him," Whitfield
said. "He cares about family and children. He's not a politician."
Mike Turk, Redmond's campaign manager, said the roller-skating campaign
is about family values.
"For too long, Republicans have been saying, 'We're family friendly,'
but doing the typical events at big hotels," Turk said. "We
wanted to do what Republicans have been saying for years and do a
family friendly event."
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Area in brief
Concert at park
GALLUP — Jesus for Navajo Nation celebration will be held 10
a.m. to 9 p.m. today at the Red Rock State Park. Admission is free
and open to the public. The location was incorrect in Thursday's newspaper.
Information: (505) 778-5600.
DNA meeting
WINDOW ROCK — The DNA People's Legal Services Inc. will hold
its board of directors meeting at 9 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 29, at the
DNA conference room. Information: (520) 871-5631.
Americorps hiring
WINDOW ROCK — The AmeriCorps members and Agency Field Supervisors
are hiring interested individuals. Information: (520) 871-7288...
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Aneth voters will elect new chapter officials
on Feb. 15
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — Navajo voters in three chapters will go to the
polls Feb. 15 to select five officials, including the entire top slate
of the Aneth Chapter, who have been removed for violating tribal ethics
laws.
The Board of Election Supervisors met Friday to set Feb. 3 as the
filing deadline for the five posts. Voting will occur 12 days later
for the president, vice president and secretary treasurer of the Aneth
Chapter, who will succeed Leonard Lee, Nelson Rockwell and Tina Lansing
in the top spots.
Each candidate needs 18 signatures from Navajo voters registered as
chapter members...
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Aneth officials call it quits
Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — The Aneth Chapter's former president and vice president
ousted for violating tribal ethics laws have decided not to appeal
the sanctions imposed by the Navajo Ethics and Rules Committee.
Former President Leonard Lee and former Vice President Nelson Rockwell
had until the close of business Tuesday to file appeals with the Navajo
Nation Supreme Court if they wanted to challenge the committee's sanctions
against them. The deadline for appeal by the chapter's former secretary-treasurer,
Tina Lansing, also has passed.
Punishment for the three officials, whose four-year terms would have
ended in August, included immediate removal from office, disqualification
from holding any Navajo elected offices for five years and paying
restitution totaling more than $60,000 the maximum censure provided
by the Ethics in Government Law...
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Gallup 46, Manzano 25
GALLUP (46)
Daniella Aretino 11, Perrline Kelewood 10, Roberta Tahe 6, Tanya Bailey
6, Jyme Beth Begaye 4, Sheena Begay 3, Elgia Begay 2, LaTonya Hunt
2, Ramonica Harvey 2.
MANZANO (25)
Fanoy Walters 8, Stacie Farwell 6, Mary Pavlantos 3, Lauren Blackwell
2, Kristy Dickson 2, Cyndee Adams 2, Francine Amador 2...
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How many delegates should be on Navajo
Council?
Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — Members of the Navajo Nation Council will have
an opportunity once again to take up a subject they have tried hard
to ignore in the past a possible reduction in the size of the council.
This is one of more than a dozen resolutions that have been put on
next week's winter agenda.
During the past three years, the subject of a possible reduction in
the size of the council has come up three times and each time was
tabled, usually with the excuse that it needed more study...
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Torreon man shoots self
Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — A 34-year-old Torreon man apparently committed
suicide Tuesday night or Wednesday morning after consuming nine 12-ounce
bottles of Budweiser beer and then shooting himself, Navajo police
said.
A brother found Edward J. Lee around 7:30 a.m. in their home about
one-half mile southeast of the Tinian Water Tank in the Torreon Chapter,
according to police.
The brother, who was not identified, was walking down a hallway when
he kicked a .45 caliber shell casing that had rolled from under a
locked bedroom door...
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Navajo jobless rate slows down welfare-to-work
Nancy Watson
Staff Writer
WINDOW ROCK — The Navajo Nation has had some success in getting
people on the job-starved Navajo Reservation off welfare into decent-paying
jobs.
But it hasn't been easy with an unemployment rate that is now estimated
at a whopping 58.46 per cent more than 10 times the national average.
"That's the wild card we've been given," said Peggy Sue
Nez, coordinator of the tribe's welfare-to-work program. "There
are no jobs. What are we going to do?"
In spite of the lack of jobs, Nez's program has found work for about
300 people. The program is currently serving about 1,000 people...
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