Linda Diaz, the former lieutenant governor of Pojoaque Pueblo in New Mexico, is being sentenced today in connection with a fatal hit and run on the reservation.

Federal prosecutors are seeking three years in prison for Diaz, who was found guilty of leaving the scene of a fatal accident. She struck Phillip Espinoza, 31, along a highway on April 4, 2009.

Diaz's attorney is asking for probation. Apparently, she is the first Indian defendant in New Mexico to ever be tried under the relevant federal statute.

Regardless of the sentence, Diaz plans an appeal. Attorney Sam Winder, a former federal prosecutor, says the government failed to show Espinoza was non-Indian.

If Espinoza were Indian, the federal government would not have jurisdiction over the case, according to Winder.

Get the Story:
Former Pojoaque official to be sentenced in fatal hit-and-run (The Santa Fe New Mexican 11/2)

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