Native men charged with hate crime in New Mexico

Tuesday, December 18, 2007  

Two men from the Navajo Nation have been charged with a hate crime for allegedly attacking a gay Native man in Farmington, New Mexico.

Jerry Paul, 40, and Craig Yazzie, 37, and a third man, Scott Thompson, 21, are accused of beating Matthew Shetima on September 22. The men allegedly yelled a slur at Shetima and threatened to kill him.

"It was a gay-bashing kind of deal — that's the way it reads to me," San Juan County Deputy District Attorney Brent Capshaw told The Farmington Daily Times. "I've got all three of them making those comments to the police. It sure sounds like a hate crime."

Paul and Yazzie live on the Navajo Nation. Shetima's place of residence was not reported but his surname is found in Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico.

Get the Story:
Men face hate crime charges: First local charges involving sexual orientation (The Farmington Daily Times 12/18)

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