Navajo witchcraft trial put on hold

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Karen Francis
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — A case involving a letter containing references to witchcraft written on official Navajo Nation letterhead has been temporarily delayed while the plaintiff files a motion to recuse the judge hearing the case.
In the courtroom, Evangeline Logg’s attorney, David Jordan, said that he sent a letter to District Court Judge T.J. Holgate asking him to voluntarily recuse himself from the case.

However, Holgate wanted Jordan to put the request in writing through a motion, so Jordan requested a continuance for a couple of weeks to file that motion.

Holgate allowed for the continuance.

Jordan said that he understands that Holgate participated in an application process for a job that Logg applied for with the judicial branch.

“As a result we are asking that he voluntarily pull himself out of the case. Because this is about employment, and one of the issues is her efforts to get employment, his participation would make him a witness, which you can’t be a judge and a witness at the same time,” Jordan said.

“I want to make it clear we don’t allege that Judge Holgate did anything wrong by any stretch of the imagination,” he said. “I doubt he knew that Ms. Logg was going to be coming up and that there was a connection to a pending case. Those things just happen but the fact of the matter is once it happens, then it’s appropriate for another judge to hear the case.”

Logg was working for the Navajo Nation Child Support Enforcement when she received the letter with a statement concerning witchcraft. Her employment with the tribe ended in June 2004 and she filed a complaint with the Navajo Nation Labor Commission in 2005 alleging that her former supervisor created a hostile work environment and that Child Support Enforcement violated the Navajo Preference in Employment Act.