A federal jury in Colorado convicted a Southern Ute tribal member of voluntary manslaughter for the beating death of his ex-lover.

Prosecutors charged Carlos Herrera, 31, with murder but the jury handed down the lesser verdict. He faces up to 10 years in prison.

In February 2001, Brenda Chavez's body was found beaten to death on the Southern Ute Reservation. Authorities had little information and practically no evidence to go on.

But they were led to Herrera because he had told a medicine man what happened. A federal judge upheld the clergy-communicant privilege rights of Native spiritual advisers, but said it didn't apply because Herrera had not sought guidance from the medicine man, who also did not keep the confession secret.

Get the Story:
Conviction closes the book for Ignacio (The Durango Herald 2/1)
Jury rejects murder in Ute confession case (The Denver Post 1/31)

Related Stories:
Federal judge upholds medicine man privilege rights (12/03)
Authorities subpoenaed medicine man in murder case (11/20)
Southern Ute tribal member charged with murder (08/12)