A crime is a crime - no matter who commits it. Being a member of the Navajo Nation doesn't allow someone to commit murder and get away with it on the grounds of "preserving the tribe" and its integrity. Law is equal for everyone - the court has done its part, and justice was served. The Navajo Nation should not have more say in regard to justice matters, and it even has the potential to hamper investigations when the victims are not part of the Navajo Nation.
It was a long 19 years, carrying the pain of losing two lives in the Slim family. Alyce Slim, 63, and Tiffany Lee, her 9-year-old granddaughter, were brutally murdered by Lezmond Mitchell and Johnny Orsinger (a minor at the time), who were preparing for an armed robbery. The murders occurred when Slim, traveling through New Mexico, offered a lift to Mitchell and Orsinger; they stabbed Slim 33 times, slit Lee's throat, and stoned her to death.
What could be more monstrous than this? Despite the severity of the crime, the Navajo Nation strongly objected to the execution of Mitchell. They feel the Federal Government was unfair to them. "The very fact that he faced execution despite the tribe's opposition to a death sentence for him reflected the government's disdain for tribal sovereignty," Mitchell attorneys Jonathan Aminoff and Celeste Bacchi said in a statement. How should one react to a comment like that? It was a child and an elderly woman, for God's sake.
Crime has nothing to do with the sovereignty of a tribe. In this case, the victims and the perpetrators belonged to the same tribe. Having a different set of rules for natives would mean more harm in the future if the victims did not belong to the Navajo Nation. How would the tribe have reacted if the perpetrator was not a native? They might have been okay with capital punishment in that case. The tribe and their supporters made several appeals to reduce the death sentence of Mitchell to life in prison, but they were unsuccessful.
The murders took place on the tribal land and included the additional crimes of robbery and kidnapping. Orsinger, being a juvenile, was sentenced to life in prison. The tribal government and its people are unjustifiably offended; they feel betrayed by what was promised to them years ago, that no capital punishments would be given to natives.
It's a shame that, even after such a horrible crime, the tribe still advocates the so-called preservation of their tribal integrity agenda.
Be that as it may, all natives (victims and perpetrators) should abide by the law and work with the Federal Government to mitigate and prevent crime. Being soft on criminals or sentences will only lead to future situations where native criminals could get away with their crimes. This is not what America stands for, and the natives are Americans too.
Maintaining the integrity and sovereignty of an indigenous group is a different situation than punishing a criminal, and they shouldn't be mixed up. What happened to Alyce and Tiffany was unexpected, and the natives cannot bring them back to life; however, the capital punishment for Mitchell has restored Tiffany Lee's father's faith in justice and set an example for anyone with dreadful intentions.
