FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Nearly three years after a toddler died on the Navajo Nation, the tribal prosecutor has filed a homicide charge in her death.
A medical examiner ruled Kiara Harvey's death in June 2008 a homicide. Her case was highlighted in an Associated Press story earlier this week about the impact of federal prosecutors declining to take Indian Country criminal cases, where only they can bring serious penalties for serious crimes.
A complaint filed Friday in tribal court in Shiprock, N.M., accuses Kiara's mother, Norena Joe, in her death. The charge came just days before the tribe's statute of limitations expires in the case. Joe did not return a message left Friday.
Joe's arraignment in tribal court is scheduled July 8. If convicted, the maximum sentence would be one year in jail.
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