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TUESDAY, JULY 31, 2001

A New Mexico district judge on Monday ruled that state authorities can prosecute a man for the 1998 slaying of Donald Tsosie, a Navajo man found beaten to death near the Navajo Reservation.

Rejecting arguments put forth by Robert Fry, the suspect in the case, State District Judge George Harrison in Farmington said the land on which Tsosie's body was found is not Indian Country. Therefore, the state has jurisdiction.

Tsosie's body was found in Head's Canyon, in an area about 1,400 feet from the edge of the Navajo Reservation in New Mexico. The land is under federal control but doesn't meet the definition of Indian territory, said Judge Harrison.

Investigators allege Fry and Leslie Engh beat Tsosie with a shovel and threw him off a cliff at the canyon. Engh pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.

Engh is expected to testify against Fry.